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肩書を与える: The 飛行機で行くing U Strikes
Author: B.M. Bower
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The 飛行機で行くing U Strikes

by

B.M. Bower

First US 版: Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1934

This e-調書をとる／予約する 版: 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia, 2017

"The 飛行機で行くing U Strikes," Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1934

Someone was 殺人，大当り 飛行機で行くing U steers, 殺人，大当り them wantonly and then stripping out the hindｭ４半期/4分の1s and leaving the 残り／休憩（する） for the wolves. When 半導体素子 Bennett and 疲れた／うんざりした Davidson first discovered it, they thought someone was stealing beef. Then 半導体素子 設立する that the hindquarters were 存在 捨てるd into ravines and left to rot. 明白に, the どろぼう was deliberately 侮辱ing the 飛行機で行くing U, trying to 動かす up trouble, trying to 選ぶ a fight.

Hot-長，率いるd young 半導体素子 Bennett jumped to the 結論 that Butch 吊りくさび and his ギャング（団） were responsible. He thought that Butch was 負かす／撃墜する on him and was taking out the peeve on J.G. and the 飛行機で行くing U ranch which that square old cattle puncher owned. So 半導体素子 やめる his 職業 and decided to catch the 殺し屋 himself.

And that started him into as 急速な／放蕩な-moving a mess of trouble as the young wildcat had ever seen. For it soon developed that there were bigger 計画（する）s 進行中で than the 窃盗 of a few ４半期/4分の1s of beef—計画（する）s that 炎上d into a 範囲 war—計画（する）s that 伴う／関わるd Polly Taylor of the Hobble-O—計画（する）s that led to pitched 戦う／戦い in which 半導体素子 took long chances on his own and longer ones trying to keep Polly out of trouble before peace returned to the 範囲.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Frontispiece

I. — TROUBLE BEGINS

A RAW March 勝利，勝つd such as only the high prairies ever know 注ぐd like ice water over the bald benchland that forms a part of the 飛行機で行くing U 範囲. It roughened the hair on the two saddle horses; it 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd their manes and it whipped their tails around their hocks as they loped 負かす／撃墜する to the bluff 辛勝する／優位 where the rough country began.

半導体素子 Bennett, younger of the two riders, broke a silence of half an hour. "Those horses will be hugging the 小衝突 on a day like this," he said, and drew a 手渡す across his smarting 注目する，もくろむs.

"That's 権利," 疲れた／うんざりした Davidson agreed. "No use 徹底的に捜すing the （法廷の）裁判s to-day. Mamma! That 勝利，勝つd sure does go through a fellow! What say we swing over to the left here, 半導体素子, and kinda 耐える off more に向かって the river? They're in the breaks, that's a cinch. We've had this 勝利，勝つd for four days. I look for 'em to be watering along Rabbit Creek where there's lots of 避難所."

"That's what I was thinking." 半導体素子 hunched his shoulders within his sour-dough coat. "We can make it 負かす／撃墜する off that point over there easiest."

With one （許可，名誉などを）与える their rein 手渡すs twitched to the left and the horses obeyed that slight 圧力 against the 権利 味方する of their necks. Instant 救済 was felt from that biting 勝利，勝つd, now 押し進めるing hard against their 支援するs instead of flat against their 権利 味方するs. The 涙／ほころび lines 乾燥した，日照りのd upon their cheeks. They let their horses 負かす／撃墜する to a walk, pulled off their gloves and sat on them while they rolled and lighted cigarettes. Neither spoke again. Neither was conscious of their long silences which held a 満足させるing companionship not to be broken by idle chatter. They were content and that was enough.

総計費 the sky was blue and the sun shone with a spring brightness. After awhile, when they turned off the sloping point of the （法廷の）裁判 and 選ぶd their way 負かす／撃墜する a rocky gulch, a pleasant warmth surrounded them. Here the 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd could not search them out. Riding ahead, 半導体素子 leaned suddenly from the saddle and plucked a crocus from the bank. Straightening again, he took off his hat and tucked the downy 茎・取り除く beneath the hatband in 前線, and 始める，決める the hat atilt on his brown 長，率いる. With his overcoat unbuttoned, 疲れた／うんざりした 棒 slack in the saddle, whistling an aimless little tune under his breath.

負かす／撃墜する in the 避難所d coulee it was spring. A few fat prairie dogs were already bestirring themselves, 追跡（する）ing grass roots or running from 塚 to 塚 to gossip with their neighbors. As the two cowboys approached, a shrewish chittering met them, the village inhabitants all standing up on the 塚s with their 前線 paws 倍のd like 手渡すs. 突然の they lost courage however and ducked 負かす／撃墜する into their 穴を開けるs, the flirt of their stubby tails as insolent as a thumbed nose.

Out of that coulee and up over another small （法廷の）裁判 went the riders, the 冷気／寒がらせる 勝利，勝つd hounding them over the high ground only to give up the chase when they dipped 負かす／撃墜する into the next hollow. In spite of their seeming casualness, their 追求（する），探索（する）ing ちらりと見ることs went here and there, scanning each wrinkle and hollow that lay exposed to their gaze. The bunch of horses they were 追跡（する）ing might be almost anywhere in this 肉親，親類d of 天候.

疲れた／うんざりした suddenly pointed a gloved finger. "Ain't that a dead critter 負かす／撃墜する there by that 小衝突 patch? Looks like the wolves have been at work 負かす／撃墜する in here."

"Not one but six carcasses 負かす／撃墜する there," 半導体素子 answered him. "We better go take a look. If it's wolves, they sure have been 持つ／拘留するing high carnival 負かす／撃墜する there." He reined his horse straight 負かす／撃墜する the slope toward the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, 疲れた／うんざりした after him.

It was so 法外な that when they struck a shale patch both horses slid on their 残余s for some distance. But they made the 底（に届く） without 事故 and 棒 負かす／撃墜する to the thicket. A 深い bowl of a place it was, the 中心 a ジャングル of wild berry bushes growing in such luxuriance as would 示す a spring の近くに by. On the sunny 味方する of the thicket lay a group of carcasses, evidently some time dead.

The two 棒 up and stopped, 星／主役にするing about them. "Mamma!" gasped 疲れた／うんざりした. "Looks like here's where the wolves have held an old-timer's 再会. Six beef critters pulled 負かす／撃墜する all in one bunch! Now what d'you know about that?"

"Not half as much as I'm going to know before I'm through," 半導体素子 retorted. He stepped off his horse and walked over to the first carcass. With his 手渡すs on his hips he 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する at the unlovely heap for a minute, then walked on to the next and the next. He turned 支援する and looked at 疲れた／うんざりした, standing just behind him.

"発射 in the 長，率いる. The whole damn bunch," 疲れた／うんざりした answered the look. "You saw that, didn't yuh?"

"I'd tell a man I saw it. Take 持つ／拘留する, here. Let's see the brand—if they left one."

They caught 持つ／拘留する of the mauled and shriveled hide where the hind ４半期/4分の1s should have been and flipped it over. The brand was the 飛行機で行くing U, and as they went from one to the other, they 立証するd the brand on each. Six 飛行機で行くing U beeves, still showing the 弾丸 穴を開けるs in their 長，率いるs where they had been 発射 負かす／撃墜する. And while the fore ４半期/4分の1s had been half devoured by wolves, the hind ４半期/4分の1s had been skinned out of the hides and carried off.

"Beef rustlers," said 疲れた／うんざりした, as they returned to their horses. "I sure would like to know who pulled that stunt. Looks to me like they either want to advertise the fact they're after the 飛行機で行くing U or else they don't give a darn. Never even took the trouble to 削減（する） out the brands, you notice." He looked at young Bennett. "That mean anything to you, 半導体素子?"

"It certainly does. After that trouble last summer with Big Butch's outfit, it means they're making war 薬／医学 again. I was wondering what made 'em so damn peaceable; after losing four men in that fight we had, it looked to me like they'd take another whack at the 飛行機で行くing U, just to break even." Young Bennett frowned 負かす／撃墜する at the nearest heap of bones and hide. He did not 追加する what ぼんやり現れるd blackest in his thoughts: that he himself, with a personal quarrel to settle with one of Big Butch's men, had really brought the 飛行機で行くing U into the trouble with Butch 吊りくさび' outfit.

He hated to 収容する／認める it, even to himself, but it was true. He had been looking for his brother, up in this country along the Missouri, and had run into mystery and trouble in his search. Brother 病弱な was dead—殺人d, he believed, in spite of 保証／確信s that 病弱な's death was an 事故. And one day he had seen one of Butch 吊りくさび' men riding 病弱な's horse and saddle, the EB brand botchily changed. 井戸／弁護士席, he had gone after Cash Farley and got the horse away from him, but in the long run the 飛行機で行くing U had paid high for that 無謀な adventure. Paid with a hundred 長，率いる of saddle horses stolen out of the pasture in 飛行機で行くing U coulee; paid with a 弾丸 in Jim Whitmore's 脚, beside. And now, good old "J.G." was 支払う／賃金ing again, with good beef 虐殺（する）d on the 範囲, his brand left insolently as a challenge and a 反抗 to the outfit.

It was plain enough to 半導体素子 Bennett. Last summer the trouble had 最高潮に達するd in a hair-raising afternoon when he had been 追跡（する）d from 激しく揺する to 激しく揺する by Cash Farley and his cronies with ライフル銃／探して盗むs. 井戸／弁護士席, his own ライフル銃／探して盗む had taken up the argument pretty decisively. Fighting for his life, he had held them off until the 飛行機で行くing U boys had come to the 救助（する）—疲れた／うんざりした, here, was one of the first to arrive. He knew just what these carcasses meant. Big Butch 吊りくさび was taking up the fight where it had been dropped last summer.

Then 疲れた／うんざりした dissented from that 結論. "Big Butch might be makin' war 薬／医学, like you say, but not this way. It's somebody else rustling beef off us."

"I'll bet it's Butch, building up another 捨てる with this outfit," 半導体素子 said glumly. "Come on. I'll bet we'll find more."

They 機動力のある and 棒 up out of the little 水盤／入り江 and over into the next gully. Sure enough, here were several more, all showing the 飛行機で行くing U brand. In another 深い coulee they counted twelve carcasses, and with a stubborn thoroughness young Bennett 主張するd upon 診察するing each one. 飛行機で行くing U. Not one Hobble-O, though plenty of Shep Taylor's 在庫／株 範囲d in here, as did the Lazy Ladder and a few nester brands. Whoever had butchered these cattle certainly 選ぶd his brand with care.

All that afternoon they 棒 through the sequestered places where 飛行機で行くing U cattle had wintered for sake of the 避難所. Hundreds of them were grazing there now, looking fat and strong after the long months of 冷淡な. Once 疲れた／うんざりした 発言／述べるd that the calf 刈る せねばならない be a 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する one that spring, but 半導体素子 only nodded 協定. 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する calf 刈るs could not alter the fact that his own personal enemies were taking their grudge out on the 飛行機で行くing U and that there didn't seem to be anything much that he could do about it.

They 設立する the bunch of horses they were after and 煙霧d them up on the （法廷の）裁判 and 長，率いるd them toward the ranch, then continued their scrutiny of the coulees and gulches that webbed the （土地などの）細長い一片 lying between the level （法廷の）裁判s and the Badlands along the river. Again and again they （機の）カム upon the mutilated remains of 飛行機で行くing U 在庫／株, and 裁判官ing from what was left, they guessed them all to be young beef steers just under shipping age.

"Good beef," commented 疲れた／うんざりした, "but damned expensive eating, just the same. J.G's going to be shy a couple of carloads of beef next 落ちる. And believe me, that sure runs into money!"

"I know it," growled 半導体素子. "You don't have to rub it in." In a little memorandum 調書をとる／予約する he was keeping a methodical 一致する and the 開始するing 人物／姿／数字s stunned him into silence. Just as sure as the sun was 向こうずねing, the 飛行機で行くing U was 存在 baited into a fight. No use talking about it—words wouldn't change the facts, no more than they could 緩和する his heartsick feeling of 責任／義務 in the 事柄. No, there wasn't much to be said about it. Jim Whitmore was 存在 stolen blind. It had been going on all winter, almost under their noses. It was still going on. Some of these last butcherings they had 設立する looked fresh. A couple of days old at the most.

"Whoever it is, they're sure doing a land-office 商売／仕事 in beef," 疲れた／うんざりした 発言／述べるd, as he 解除するd himself into the saddle after 検査／視察するing the last and freshest one. "I can't think it's the Butch 吊りくさび bunch, though. They're supposed to be in the horse 商売／仕事. I never heard of them peddling beef."

On his horse, 半導体素子 concentrated upon the little 調書をとる／予約する open in his 手渡す, 追加するing a column of 人物／姿／数字s twice; once from the 底（に届く） up, then, with an incredulous 誓い, starting at the 最高の，を越す and going on 負かす／撃墜する.

疲れた／うんざりした watched him over the cigarette he was making. "How many, 半導体素子?" he queried, ちらりと見ることing 負かす／撃墜する at the match and turning it 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する, to draw it along the fork of his saddle. "I started to keep count in my 長，率いる—but hell, I give it up ten mile 支援する."

"Eighty-three," young Bennett told him without looking up. "It doesn't seem possible—"

"Eighty-three? That's damn 近づく three carloads of beef the sons uh Satan have got away with. Yuh realize that? And half of it plumb wasted and fed to the wolves!" 疲れた／うんざりした blew smoke from his nostrils with the snort he gave. "Say, J.G.'ll go straight in the 空気／公表する when he hears about this. . . . 井戸／弁護士席, we might 同様に be getting 支援する."

He reined toward the 法外な slope of the gully, 半導体素子 に引き続いて behind. The horses climbed nosing out their 地盤 as they heaved themselves over the worst places in rabbit hops. On the long hogback 山の尾根 that sloped gently up to a thicket-栄冠を与えるd swale just under the （法廷の）裁判 最高の，を越す, 疲れた／うんざりした looked 支援する 負かす／撃墜する into the gully.

"Mamma! That's a lot of meat, 半導体素子," he 観察するd in a shocked トン. "J.G's a lot poorer than he thought he was."

"It'll be paid for," 半導体素子 said すぐに, though he could have had no （疑いを）晴らす idea of just how it would be paid. Uneasily he was 追加するing the little column of 人物／姿／数字s again, as his horse walked 刻々と up the slope. He was hoping that he had made a mistake, but there it was. Eighty-three which they had 設立する and 検査／視察するd; how many more there might be hidden away in this broken country he had not the courage to guess. They hadn't 設立する them all; he knew that.

He had put away the 調書をとる／予約する again and was fumbling for the button to の近くに his flapping overcoat, when the 激しい canvas gave a vicious twitch in his fingers. It wasn't the 勝利，勝つd. He ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する at his coat, gasped with astonishment and spurred ahead into the 避難所 of a 小衝突 patch. And as he did so, the faint pow-w of a ライフル銃／探して盗む 発射 （機の）カム to his ears, the sound dimmed by distance and almost whipped away 完全に by the gusty howl of the 勝利，勝つd.

II. — CHIP TAKES THE HINT

WEARY turned with a twinkle in his 注目する，もくろむs at the sudden haste 半導体素子 陳列する，発揮するd. "What's the 事柄? Got a snake bite?" he 問い合わせd mildly, knowing 十分な 井戸／弁護士席 that the hardiest snake would scarcely be abroad in March.

"No. A flea," 半導体素子 （機の）カム 支援する at him 即時に, while he pulled up to search the gully with his 注目する，もくろむs.

Big Butch without a 疑問, he was thinking; Big Butch or one of his men, trying to get even for Cash Farley. Not even a wisp of smoke across the gulch gave a 手がかり（を与える） to his どの辺に, and to go 支援する and search for him was worse than useless. He might be anywhere amongst the 激しく揺するs and 小衝突 on the さらに先に 塀で囲む, and to reach him except with a 弾丸 was 事実上 impossible. No use 説 anything to 疲れた／うんざりした about it, either. Might 動かす him up to want to go 追跡（する）ing the shooter—and while they were getting into the gully and across to the other 味方する, they would be 平易な 的s. 半導体素子 had enough experience with that sort of thing to feel no 願望（する） whatever to make the 試みる／企てる.

It was plain 疲れた／うんざりした had not heard the 発射. "No more carcass 追跡（する）ing to-day," he 宣言するd, misinterpreting 半導体素子's pause. "You couldn't get me 負かす／撃墜する into another coulee on a bet. I've got enough on my mind with them eighty-three we already counted. Come on. We'll 選ぶ up them horses and 攻撃する，衝突する for home. That's work enough for to-day, if you ask me."

"I'd like to get one 割れ目 at whoever's doing it," 半導体素子 said, reining reluctantly と一緒に. "I'll sure do it too."

"Not here and now you won't. Gosh, that 勝利，勝つd's a corker, ain't it? I feel like my bones are packed in ice. For the lordsake, 半導体素子, come on!"

They overtook the horses just as they were swinging off toward another coulee to get out of the 勝利，勝つd, and 煙霧d them along at a hard gallop across the （法廷の）裁判 and 負かす／撃墜する a gravelly 山の尾根. 長，率いるs 屈服するd to the bitter 勝利，勝つd, they 棒 doggedly, 注目する，もくろむs red and smarting. On this 明らかにする slope the 強風 gouged loose patches of gravel and flung it in clouds high into the 空気／公表する. Small pebbles flew like hailstones, pelting horses and riders alike. The short grass, its curly blades showing green at the roots, whipped flat to the ground.

Hating to 直面する the cruel 爆破, the loose horses spread out where they could and tried to dodge 支援する to more 避難所d places they knew; but two shrill-発言する／表明するd demons seemed always just where escape was most easily 封鎖するd, and outguessed them, outran them, turned them 支援する into the teeth of the 勝利，勝つd. Manes and tails whipping, ears laid 支援する, they tore 負かす／撃墜する the hill, blinding their captors in the dust their unshod hoofs flung up for the whooping 強風 to 掴む and sweep along; a wild and picturesque flight which a Russell would have loved to paint.

The brushy bottomland of 飛行機で行くing U creek received them at last. A hundred yards from the new pasture 盗品故買者 below the （軍の）野営地，陣営 半導体素子 spurred ahead to open the gate. The half-broken horses shied, snorted in pretended panic and streamed through the 開始, and 疲れた／うんざりした swung off to drag the wire-and-政治家 gate into place again and fasten it with the chain 宙返り飛行.

"What'll we do, 半導体素子—tell J.G. 権利 away about them butchered steers, or wait maybe till morning?" he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know, as he galloped up と一緒に again.

"Why wait? It's got to be told."

"Yeah, it's got to be told. But I thought we might maybe give the Old Man one more night's sleep before he knows it." He leaned and spat wide of his horse. "Just as you say, though."

半導体素子 棒 ten 棒s at a walk, his 手渡すs clamped over the saddle horn, his わずかな／ほっそりした young 団体／死体 swaying わずかに in perfect rhythm with his horse's steps, like a ダンサー catching the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of the music that is in his 血. He drew his teeth gently across 勝利，勝つd-chapped underlip while he （機の）カム to a 決定／判定勝ち（する） and suddenly he looked at 疲れた／うんざりした.

"It's something more than 虐殺（する）d beef," he said, and caught the 辛勝する／優位 of his coat between thumb and finger, turning it out for 疲れた／うんざりした to see. "That's why I jumped my horse behind the 小衝突. Pretty good 狙撃, when you take distance and 勝利，勝つd into consideration. Whoever did it, he was so far off you didn't hear the 発射. I did, because I was listening for it."

"Mamma!" gasped 疲れた／うんざりした, leaning to squint at the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 穴を開ける with its brownish 縁. "Took you all this while to jar loose a word about it, hunh? You sure are a mouthy guy!"

"What was the use? We couldn't get at him. He was over across the gully, （武器などの）隠匿場所d somewhere in the 激しく揺するs. Been watching us, most likely. The funny part is that he waited till we were both almost out of sight before he made up his mind to take a 発射 at us."

"That ain't funny," 疲れた／うんざりした 訂正するd him soberly. "That's luck."

"That's enlightening, you mean. Shows who it is he really 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get."

"You?"

"Who else? He let you get by into the 小衝突. For that 事柄, he let us both get out of the gully and up on the 山の尾根 where we couldn't very 井戸／弁護士席 take after him—which shows he didn't want a gun 戦う／戦い on his 手渡すs. All he 手配中の，お尋ね者 was to マリファナ me while he had the chance."

"I wish," said 疲れた／うんざりした complainingly, "you'd of said something about it at the time, 半導体素子. I'd 'a' gone 支援する after the dirty son-of-a-gun."

"And that," 半導体素子 retorted, "is 正確に／まさに why I didn't say anything about it."

"No," 疲れた／うんざりした made sarcastic comment, "I suppose you'd let him beef yuh like he did them steers, before you'd condescend to について言及する the fact. You sure are a self-十分な cuss, but some of these days you'll bump into the fact that you can't buck this game all by your lonesome."

"Yes?"

"Yes! Daw-gone you, yes! いつかs, 半導体素子, you make me so damn mad—"

"Because why? I 港／避難所't done a thing, so far."

"Mamma!" sighed 疲れた／うんざりした. "Ain't I just been telling yuh? It's you trying to play a 孤独な 手渡す that started all this ruckus in the first place. If you'd passed the word to us boys, that day at Cow Island, instead of foggin' off after Cash Farley by yourself, you wouldn't be getting buttonholes 削減（する） in your coat like this, maybe."

"I don't see how you 人物／姿／数字 that. I got the horse I went after, didn't I? If I'd waited to holler for help—"

"You'd of showed your brains," 疲れた／うんざりした finished the 宣告，判決, によれば his own ideas. "We'd likely have 絡まるd with Cash 権利 then and there, and chances are he'd of been laid away. That would of settled it. Instead of that, you let him go and でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる up ways of getting even. Now the 飛行機で行くing U's out two, three carloads of beef, to say nothing of that bunch of horses they got away with last summer."

"Rub it in, why don't you?" 半導体素子 問い合わせd acrimoniously. "You've changed your tune, seems to me. I thought it wasn't the Butch 吊りくさび ギャング（団） doing all this?"

"井戸／弁護士席, it ain't." 疲れた／うんざりした's 直面する relaxed into a 簡潔な／要約する grin. "I'm just carrying out your argument, is all—running you into a corner with it. It's this idea you've got of bowin' your neck and going 長，率いる on after a thing. I'm showin' you how you pan out when you try and take things into your own 手渡すs. If this is Big Butch's work, which it ain't by a long 発射, and if you're chump enough to try and settle with him alone, which you couldn't do, why, I'm tellin' yuh 権利 now, 半導体素子, that Big Butch'd just make one bite of you."

"Oh, go to hell!" snorted 半導体素子, and pulled the big collar of his sour-dough coat higher around his ears as he spurred his horse into a faster pace.

"If I do, I'll sure have you along for company," 疲れた／うんざりした retorted. "You certainly are about as bullheaded a cuss as I ever met up with."

To that 声明 半導体素子 deigned no reply, and with ill feeling between them for the first time in months, they 棒 in silence to the creek, splashed through a paper-thin glaze of new ice and loped up to the corral. In silence they unsaddled, stabled their horses and went crunching through 氷点の mud on the path to the cabins. Where the 追跡する forked 近づく the bunk house, 半導体素子 swung off toward Jim Whitmore's cabin, conscious of 疲れた／うんざりした's surprised ちらりと見ること as he went on.

An uneasy feeling that 疲れた／うんざりした was 権利, that nothing would be 伸び（る）d by telling J.G. now of his loss, slowed 半導体素子 負かす／撃墜する to a laggard pace which 停止（させる）d beside the little square window beside the door. ちらりと見ることing in, he saw J.G. lying on his bunk asleep, his lips gently puffing in and out with the subdued snores he emitted. The lamplight shone on the bald patch coming on his 長，率いる. . . .

Seconds ago the bunk house door had slammed behind 疲れた／うんざりした. 半導体素子 looked that way, looked in again at the window. When a cowboy is in 疑問, he usually rolls a cigarette,—or did in the days before the tailor-mades. 半導体素子 took his time doing it, his thoughts dwelling miserably upon the trouble and loss he had 原因（となる）d Jim Whitmore in the months since he had come riding north, looking for his brother 病弱な. Discord and 敵意 seemed to have followed him like a cloud of hungry mosquitoes.

There was the trouble at Cow Island, when he had been all but hung on a trumped-up 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of stealing his own horses. Dave Burch and Tom Shaner, glorying in their 当局 as leaders of the Vigilantes, would never 許す the 飛行機で行くing U for making them 支援する 負かす／撃墜する.

And there was the Butch 吊りくさび outfit (or maybe his 指名する was Butch McGoon; Hec Grimes at Cow Island had called him that). His trouble with Cash Farley, one of Butch's men, was the direct 原因（となる） of all this beef stealing now. 半導体素子 would have sworn to that. All through the summer he had piled up trouble for good old J.G., and now he had to go in and tell him of this last 乱暴／暴力を加える. His cigarette was smoked 負かす／撃墜する to the stub before he could bring himself to the ordeal; a bitter thing to 直面する—but it wouldn't be better for the waiting.

III. — A MAN-SIZE JOB

HIS cigarette was smoked 負かす／撃墜する to the stub when he heard a prodigious yawn inside. He pinched out the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in his cigarette, ground the stub carefully under his heel and opened the door.

He was not long in the cabin. When he （機の）カム out, his 注目する，もくろむs held a 荒涼とした look they had not worn before. Opposite the window he 停止（させる）d again for a ちらりと見ること inside—and flinched at what he saw; J.G. sitting on the 辛勝する／優位 of his bunk, absently （人が）群がるing fresh タバコ into his 麻薬を吸う, while he 星／主役にするd unseeingly at the 塀で囲む before him, looking somehow years older than he had ten minutes ago, when he lay 平和的に asleep after a hard day in the saddle.

One look and a sharp indrawn breath, and 半導体素子 turned away and walked with squared shoulders to the bunk house. Instant silence fell upon the place when he opened the door. The Happy Family, evidently 深い in discussion a moment before, sat in ぎこちない self-consciousness as he （機の）カム in and 押し進めるd the door shut with a 新たな展開 of his shoulder. 注目する，もくろむs followed him to the stove, watched him while he stood there with his 支援する turned upon them, warming his 手渡すs. For all the 調印する he gave, the room might have been empty—which was the 冷淡な aloof way he had when life struck at him too 厳しく. And for the moment no one seemed willing to 乱打する against that 塀で囲む of silence with which he held them off.

Then 疲れた／うんざりした, 徹底的に捜すing his 厚い dark hair before the small mirror that made him crouch 負かす／撃墜する to see himself in it, he was so tall, turned with the 徹底的に捜す 均衡を保った just over his 権利 ear.

"井戸／弁護士席, what'd he say, 半導体素子?" he asked, with a 完全にする 無視（する） of any past 不一致. "Jar loose a little （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）, can't yuh? What's J.G. think about it?"

"I didn't ask him what he thought."

Cal Emmett, sure to 失敗 into touchy 支配するs, gave a constrained laugh. "Hear you've been annexin' some extra buttonholes, 半導体素子."

半導体素子 half turned toward him. "Yes? News travels 急速な／放蕩な in this country." His トン was tart.

"Meaning I'm too damn gabby," sighed 疲れた／うんざりした. "Sure, I told the boys about that. Keep 'em off the sky line, maybe, till we can glom the jasper that done it. Take a look at that 穴を開ける, boys."

He （機の）カム over to 半導体素子, looked straight into his moody hazel 注目する，もくろむs with his own sunny blue ones, and twitched the sheepskin-lined canvas coat open. "See that? If 半導体素子 had been setting three インチs 今後, that 弾丸 would of bored plumb through his 肺s and heart sideways. That's—"

"His what?" Cal Emmett chortled, to hide the shock he felt.

"Oh, he's got a heart, all 権利. You ask that family of silver-maned horses of hisn." 疲れた／うんざりした gave the coat an affectionate yank and let 半導体素子 go. "Mamma! A little better 狙撃, and I'd 'a' had to pack him all the way home against that 勝利，勝つd. You can't," he plaintively explained, "運動 a bunch of horses 価値（がある） a damn when you're packin' a 死体 on a led horse behind yuh."

From the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ he saw 半導体素子 grin at that oblique acknowledgment of 感謝, and a 緊張 left 疲れた／うんざりした's mouth. "The 広大な／多数の／重要な and 燃やすing question now is, who do we know that's as good a ライフル銃／探して盗む 発射 as that? Three hundred yards, if it was an インチ, and a high 勝利，勝つd to 許す for."

"Aw," Happy Jack croaked unbelievingly, "there ain't nobody that good a 発射. I betcha he was aimin' at somep'm in the gully and 発射 over."

"Shep Taylor's a wiz with a ライフル銃／探して盗む," Ted Culver 申し込む／申し出d. "Been sellin' beef all winter too. Yuh mind, Cal, we met him and Snuffle haulin' two four-horse 負担s out to the fort. That was about a month ago, when we was comin' out from 乾燥した，日照りの Lake."

疲れた／うんざりした gave a quick shake of the 長，率いる. "Wouldn't be Shep. Way I 人物／姿／数字, it's some of them nesters that moved in last 落ちる 負かす／撃墜する along them creek 底（に届く）s. Shep Taylor's an ornery cuss to work for, but he's straight. I'd bank on that."

"Just the same, I wouldn't put it past the Hobble-O," Ted 固執するd. "By gosh, if I'd of known what was goin' on, I'd sure as hell clumb up and took a look in them wagons. I'll 賭事 there was more hind ４半期/4分の1s than there was 前線."

At the washbasin 半導体素子 lathered 手渡すs and 直面する with a cake of yellow soap and listened to the argument that 続いて起こるd. Some of the others seemed to think the Hobble-O was 有罪の, though 疲れた／うんざりした stoutly defended the ginger-whiskered, irascible old Shep Taylor. Not once, 半導体素子 noticed, did anyone について言及する Butch 吊りくさび as a possible 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う, nor any of his outfit. Their 熟考する／考慮するd 試みる／企てる to throw the 非難する どこかよそで made his lip curl. They couldn't pull that sort of thing on him, he told himself. They must be crazy if they thought all this chewing the rag would make him change his mind about it.

At the time he failed to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる their 動機 as a friendly 試みる／企てる to 緩和する his feeling of 責任／義務. At supper he ate in silence, his 注目する，もくろむs turned toward his plate. For one thing he had no wish to see J.G's 直面する, with its deeper lines of worry, nor did he want to 会合，会う his boss's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, 尋問 ちらりと見ること. What had passed between them there in the cabin stood out in 半導体素子's consciousness as if all must see the words written in the 空気／公表する. Food choked him. Hungry as he had been, he was the first to 押し進める 支援する his plate and またがる backward over the （法廷の）裁判 at the long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and he knew that ちらりと見ることs followed him when he left the mess house.

In his bunk, with his 直面する turned to the 塀で囲む and his 一面に覆う／毛布s pulled up over his ears so that only his brown scalp lock was 明白な, he lay thinking miserably of many things best forgotten. It seemed to him that a 悪口を言う／悪態 lay on his life, though why that was so he could not understand. For himself he did not 大いに care—or so he said to himself that night. He could take all the hard knocks 運命／宿命 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 手渡す out to him and take them on his feet. But why must he carry trouble with him to the place that had come to be the only home he knew anywhere in the world? Why must good old J.G. 苦しむ because he had taken in a hoodoo?

青年 touches the 高さs of exaltation and plumbs the depths of despair. Long after the bunk house was dark and silent, save for the snoring of 疲れた／うんざりした young men asleep, 半導体素子 Bennett lay motionless under his 一面に覆う／毛布s, every 神経 athrob with thoughts too bitter for the boy he was, after all was said. Toward morning he slept, but he did not waken to any brighter mood, and he lay in bed until after the others had gone to breakfast.

Then he rose and dressed quickly and busied himself about his bunk. When he went at last to his breakfast, his warbag was packed, his 一面に覆う／毛布s rolled in his bed tarp. The last stragglers joshed him a little and went their way, telling each other that 半導体素子 was a damn fool to fight his 長，率いる over something he couldn't help. And they saddled and went off to 徹底的に捜す the 範囲 for more saddle horses to throw in the pasture and 形態／調整 up for spring 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up, planning as they 棒 how they would 扱う the beef butchers if they could have their way, and wondering what 活動／戦闘 J.G. meant to take. They 推測するd somewhat upon the fact that so far he had not said a word about it, even to Shorty. It was damned queer. They wondered if maybe 半導体素子 had lost his 神経 after all and didn't tell the Old Man about it.

The trouble was that 半導体素子 had not lost his 神経. Jim Whitmore would have felt better if he had. He waited in his cabin, smoking and walking, restless as a caged grizzly, from window to window, pausing at each to look out into the 風の強い, sun-drenched morning. Standing at one window, he saw 半導体素子 saddle the blue roan he liked best in his string, and ride away to the upper pasture. Moving uneasily to the opposite window, he watched until 半導体素子 （機の）カム riding 支援する to the corral 主要な マイク, his own 私的な saddle horse. The others, Jeff the pack horse, Silvia and her two colts, Rummy the irrepressible two-year-old and little Silver the yearling, trotted 熱望して behind and around him. They seemed to know that they were going to travel new 追跡するs. Their 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing silver manes, the way they 解除するd 残余s at one another in sheer exuberance, told eloquently of their elation.

Jim Whitmore grunted an 誓い and clamped his teeth 負かす／撃墜する on his pipestem. He turned away from the window—and turned 支援する again, muttering something about a damned young fool. He watched until, saddle changed to マイク's 支援する and the empty packsaddle cinched gauntly on Jeff, 半導体素子 stepped limberly astride マイク and trotted up to the bunk house. He waited, smoking furiously in savagely spasmodic puffs, until 半導体素子 led his horses up to his door, dropped reins and （機の）カム in.

J.G. glared at him through a blue cloud. "Bound you'll 行為／法令／行動する the damn fool, ay? Can't take advice from nobody, I s'提起する／ポーズをとる?"

"Not in this 事例／患者, I can't." 半導体素子 looked at him, a swift ちらりと見ること that looked away again. "There's times when a man's got to 選ぶ his own 追跡する."

"Man!" J.G. snorted. "Better wait till you're old enough to 投票（する）! Wait till you're 乾燥した，日照りの behind the ears—"

"I'm old enough to 取り組む any 職業 I know is 地雷, J.G." 半導体素子 spoke gruffly, perhaps to hide how shaken he was. "You wouldn't have much use for a fellow that wouldn't."

Jim Whitmore yanked his 麻薬を吸う from his mouth, glared at it, 悪口を言う／悪態d it for having 燃やすd itself out. He turned away to the 一面に覆う／毛布d （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, turned 支援する with his 手渡す outstretched. "井戸／弁護士席, here's your 支払う／賃金. Don't go actin' the fool any more'n you have to." He thrust his 麻薬を吸う into his pocket, took it out again, looked at it and thrust it 冷淡な between his teeth. "井戸／弁護士席, so long. Take care of yourself—and if you—don't be any bigger fool than the good Lord made yuh."

"I'll try not to. Uh—good-by."

He 選ぶd up マイク's reins as if he were in a 広大な／多数の／重要な hurry to be gone, swung into the saddle and trotted away 負かす／撃墜する along the pasture 盗品故買者 and so out into the old Whoop-up 追跡する that 負傷させる its devious way southward to the river and across to the hills beyond.

IV. — HORSES FOR SALE

BARR LANG stood in the doorway of his hotel dining room and 注目する，もくろむd the little group of horses clustered about his hitch rail. Across the road at the blacksmith shop, Dave Burch, captain of the Vigilantes (also 専門家 blacksmith between hangings) smoothed his grizzled 耐えるd and 星／主役にするd at 半導体素子 from under shaggy brows. No 疑問 he was thinking of the time he （機の）カム 近づく hanging that young fellow across the way, thinking those same horses had been stolen. 半導体素子 thought of it and hated himself for the crimply 冷気／寒がらせる that went up his spine into the roots of his hair, when he saw Burch's 冷淡な gaze upon him. For that he walked a little straighter to the door of Lang's 蓄える／店, （人が）群がるd in between hotel and saloon on the long 壇・綱領・公約.

Barr Lang （機の）カム toward him with his fat-throated chuckle. "井戸／弁護士席! Looks like you're pullin' your freight! Ain't quittin' the 飛行機で行くing U, are you?"

"Kinda looks that way, don't it?" Then 半導体素子 repented of his churlishness. "Yes, I'm 長，率いるing south again, Mr. Lang. How about a little grub?"

"Sure, sure! Jim'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする ya up, all 権利. So you're headin' 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する, ay? Colorado, I s'提起する／ポーズをとる?"

半導体素子 軍隊d a grin. "Might, unless I land a 職業 before I get there."

Lang followed him into the 蓄える／店, leaned an 肘 on a showcase while 半導体素子 設立する the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） he had in his pocket. "井戸／弁護士席, now, if you'd of come along yesterday mebby you coulda drawed 支払う／賃金 on the trip. Part of the way, anyhow. Butch sent a bunch of horses through here. Headin' for Cheyenne. That might of been a chance to work your passage." His little shrewd 注目する，もくろむs 熟考する／考慮するd 半導体素子's profile, caught the pinching in of his mouth and drew 負かす／撃墜する his own lip to を回避する a smile.

"Give me the sugar in a cloth 捕らえる、獲得する, if you can, will you? And if you've got an extra gunny 解雇（する） for the stuff—" At the clerk's nod, 半導体素子 turned and looked 十分な at Lang, 会合 the quizzical gleam in his 注目する，もくろむs without a 調印する of understanding.

"I thought Butch was 運ぶ／漁獲高ing beef this winter," he said carelessly. "What's the 事柄? Market play out on him?"

Barr Lang's 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd to slits, then opened their fullest. "Butch? First I heard of it. No, Butch's outfit has been gentlin' saddle horses all winter, far as I know. Got a nice bunch 形態／調整d up, from what Hec said. He seen 'em cross the river; said they looked like jim-dandies, every one of 'em." He paused. "The Hobble-O 運ぶ／漁獲高d out some beef. Took it out the other way, though. Where'd you hear Butch was sellin' beef?"

"Why, I don't know—somebody said something about it. Might have got things mixed."

"Yeah, I guess they did, all 権利." Lang gave a goodnatured chuckle. "Wasn't Butch, I'd bet on that. How's the river to-day?"

"Don't know," 半導体素子 answered. "I patronized the フェリー（で運ぶ）. I wasn't sure just how the ford was, so I didn't try it. やめる a lot of slush ice along the bank."

"Butch forded yesterday, all 権利," Lang told him. "She won't be high for a month yet, unless they get a chinook up above here, or it comes on to rain. Got your same bunch of horses, I see."

"Yes, same bunch."

"Don't want to sell that 損なう, do yuh?"

"Not just yet I don't," 半導体素子 rebuffed him and paid for his 供給（する）s with a gold piece.

Again Lang chuckled. The whole country knew how 半導体素子 Bennett felt about those horses of his. He followed 半導体素子 to the door and stood on the porch while the 解雇（する） of 準備／条項s was 存在 tied on Jeff. "井戸／弁護士席, if you 精密検査する Butch, mebby he'll give you a 職業," he called as 半導体素子 機動力のある. "Take care of yourself!"

With 解除するd 手渡す 半導体素子 定評のある the 別れの（言葉，会） and 棒 away from there, scowling thoughtfully at the 追跡する ahead of マイク's nose. Just what had Barr Lang meant to 伝える? A 警告? Or was it just his idea of a joke? He decided that Barr Lang, standing in with everybody as a good hotel-蓄える／店-saloon keeper must, if he would 栄える, 単に 手配中の，お尋ね者 to let him know that Butch was on the 追跡する ahead of him.

He did not loiter because of that fact. He 棒 hard, the silver-maned 損なう and her two colts, (n)艦隊／(a)素早い as deer, traveling easily where Jeff, the lightly packed bay, puffed and grew gaunt under the pace 半導体素子 始める，決める, and even the hardy マイク sweated to his ears. Then, miles short of Billings, he turned はっきりと west in a 霧雨ing rain, and 棒 to the gate of a snug ranch snuggled 支援する in a coulee, the house hidden の中で trees.

The 前線 door opened to his knock, lamplight streaming out upon his tall slickered 人物／姿／数字 and his young 直面する looking old and hard and purposeful. His 発言する／表明する too was metallic with 緊張する.

"Mr. Benton? I'm the fellow who owns the flaxen-maned chestnut 損なう and colts you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to buy in Billings last spring. I've decided to sell. Do you still want them?"

"Why, come in! Come in! I remember you—"

"Thanks. I'm in a hurry. Do you want to buy?"

"井戸／弁護士席, if the 損なう's as good as she was last spring, and if the colts have 形態／調整d up the way they should, I'll buy, yes. Got them with you?"

"They're 負かす／撃墜する by the gate. I want to make Billings before the 蓄える／店s の近くに."

Benton gave him a sharp look. "In trouble, young man?"

半導体素子's nostrils ゆらめくd affrontedly. "Nobody's after me," he retorted. "I need money, is all." But for all that, he drove a hard 取引 and got his price. But at the last, when he had led up Silver and Rummy and the yearling, his young stoicism broke and he was just a boy seeing his beloved horses taken from him.

His arm went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する little Silver's neck, pulling the colt's 長，率いる の近くに to his breast. "Knock off the price of this colt, Mr. Benton. I'm keeping him. I'll give you a 法案 of sale for the other two and get going."

With 注目する，もくろむs hard as agates—they were so の近くに to 涙／ほころびs—and with his heart 激しい in his chest, 半導体素子 棒 away from Benton's ranch. Each lonesome whinny of the colt was like a knife in his chest, and once he stopped and 追跡（する）d through all his pockets for a lump of 削減（する）-loaf sugar, and fed little Silver what solacing crumbs he could find, standing there in the 霧雨ing rain, petting and 慰安ing the 孤児 until Silver seemed to understand and left off 緊張するing at the lead rope and looking 支援する along the 追跡する.

In Billings, with the rain still 落ちるing dismally and the streets 事実上 砂漠d, he left the horses at a livery stable just across from a general 蓄える／店 that made a point of remaining open until midnight to 融通する late 旅行者s such as he. Tired though he was, he wrote a short letter to J.G., 倍のd it around the money he had received for the two horses, and got the storekeeper's 約束 to 登録（する） and mail it first thing in the morning.

Three trips he made across the street, carrying his 購入（する）s into the livery-stable office where they would be 安全な until morning. The last 負担 he carried was a 解雇（する） of 穀物 for his horses. He went 支援する and looked them over to make sure they were 井戸／弁護士席 fed and comfortable, and fed little Silver more sugar from a fresh 解雇（する）.

Then he 追跡（する）d a rooming house の近くに by and went to bed, and slept like one drugged until an hour or so before 夜明け.

At a little all-night lunch place 近づく the 倉庫・駅 he ate breakfast, not because he was hungry, but because he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to save time and he knew that with his stomach filled now he could ride for half a day without stopping to make （軍の）野営地，陣営. He had left orders for the horses to be 穀物d at four o'clock, so they would be ready for the 追跡する by the time he was and would have the heart for a hard day's travel, and now he packed 速く and dexterously, 追加するing all his 供給（する）s to Jeff's 負担. He was out of town before daylight, just as he had planned.

Two nights later—riding wide of the 追跡する where he could, without losing too much time—he 棒 負かす／撃墜する across the willow flat in the teeth of 勝利，勝つd and a sleety rain and approached the Missouri. Barr Lang's place showed no 微光 of light, not even in the saloon, which kept late hours. He did not 試みる／企てる to strike a match and look at his watch, but he knew it must be の近くに to three o'clock in the morning—and this too was as he had planned. Snubbed to its 地位，任命する beside Turk Bowles' squalid shack, the フェリー（で運ぶ） showed its 黒人／ボイコット 本体，大部分／ばら積みの chuckling at the 現在の, its planks probably a glare of ice.

But he 手配中の，お尋ね者 nothing of the フェリー（で運ぶ） that night. With the horses roped together, he 勧めるd them into the sullen 黒人／ボイコット water, their hoofs crunching ice at the brink. The next few minutes were a nightmare to 半導体素子. This was the place where his brother 病弱な had met death in the night; some said by 溺死するing, though Milt Cummings had told 半導体素子 it was a 弾丸 from Cash Farley's gun that had sent 病弱な Bennett 負かす／撃墜する the river. Whatever the 原因（となる） of 病弱な's death, 半導体素子 always hated the Cow Island crossing, always felt a prickling of the scalp when he must ride into it.

To-night, with the 嵐／襲撃する （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing in his 直面する and his very bones crying out for 残り／休憩（する）, the river was a 黒人／ボイコット monster 事情に応じて変わる 負かす／撃墜する upon him out of nowhere, 押し進めるing against マイク's 脚s, worrying and clutching, trying to pull him under. In the hissing of the sleet, it seemed that 病弱な was there beside him, whispering to him that he must not 投機・賭ける upon the 追跡する he meant to ride; 勧めるing him 支援する to the 飛行機で行くing U; telling him he had done all he could, selling Rummy and Silvia and sending the money to J.G. Two hundred dollars was やめる a lot of money—hardly a 減少（する） in the bucket, though, when it was counted against J.G.'s loss. Still, it was all he could do; more than most cow-punchers would think of doing.

With his teeth clamped hard together and his 直面する 屈服するd to the 嵐／襲撃する, 半導体素子 棒 doggedly ahead, letting マイク 選ぶ his way to 控訴 himself. The horses （機の）カム out shivering. Tired though they were, he 軍隊d them to a lope until the 血 ran warm through their 冷気／寒がらせるd 団体／死体s, and as they struck into the familiar 追跡する, he could feel the new spring in マイク's stride. Thought he was going home, 支援する to the 飛行機で行くing U. But presently 半導体素子 reined him short off the 追跡する, into a long 狭くする valley 主要な off toward the Hobble-O and the Lazy Ladder さらに先に 負かす／撃墜する the river.

Neither place drew him, however. He turned again, this time to the left, and entered a brushy draw which opened, a half mile さらに先に on, into a little high-塀で囲むd 水盤／入り江 filled with scrubby 木材／素質 at its upper end, where a spring creek flowed sluggishly.

Here, in a fair-sized niche in the bluff that gave some 避難所 from the 嵐／襲撃する—where a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, too, would not be seen unless a man 棒 権利 up to the place—he made （軍の）野営地，陣営, clawing in the dark amongst a thicket for 乾燥した，日照りの 支持を得ようと努めるd that would 燃やす. マイク and Jeff, even little Silver, stood の近くに to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, snug under 一面に覆う／毛布s 半導体素子 pulled from his own bedding. Their contented munching of oats from the 料金d 捕らえる、獲得するs 半導体素子 hung over their 長，率いるs made a pleasant, homey sound within the whistlings of the 勝利，勝つd. Their 注目する，もくろむs shone green in the reflection of the 炎. When he turned to look at them, 半導体素子 saw that they were no longer trembling with 冷淡な and weariness.

For himself, he 始める，決める up the little brown テント bought in Billings. A pup テント, the storekeeper had called it. It was so low that any patch of 小衝突 would hide it from 見解（をとる）, but it held his bed and his 所持品 snug from the 嵐／襲撃する, and when he はうd into it and lay 直面するing the crackling 炎上s, 半導体素子 forgot a little of his 悲惨 and was almost 満足させるd with what he had so far 遂行するd.

There is a content that comes with doing what you have 始める，決める out to do, however disagreeable the 仕事. When he slept at last, it was his 即座の 未来 that had held his last waking thoughts, and not the things he had left behind him.

V. — A CLUE IN HAND

DEEP in the Badlands 半導体素子 lived the life of the gray wolves that slunk into the 影をつくる／尾行するs when he 棒 近づく. Like the gray wolves he prowled up and 負かす／撃墜する the canyons, though he took the 追跡する at 夜明け, when the wolves were slinking home from the 追跡（する）. Twice he （機の）カム upon fresh carcasses of beef, too late to catch the 殺し屋s in the 行為／法令／行動する. For hours at a time he would 嘘（をつく） hidden on some high point and watch the country below, using the field glasses he had bought for that 目的 in Billings.

On such a day, when he had been nearly a week 負かす／撃墜する there by himself, he lay in a nest between two 玉石s on a 山の尾根 and saw four men ride 選び出す／独身 とじ込み／提出する 負かす／撃墜する the gulch beneath him; 疲れた／うんざりした, Ted Culver, Jack Bates and big, slow-発言する／表明するd 刑事 Bird, whom the 飛行機で行くing U boys 恐れるd for his sudden 激怒（する）s—but whom they called Dickybird behind his 支援する because the 指名する was so grotesquely 不適切な.

Through his field glasses he watched them lonesomely out of sight, tempted to あられ／賞賛する them and hear the sound of a human 発言する／表明する once more. He half rose from his place to shout 負かす／撃墜する to them the chance they were taking of 存在 発射, then settled 支援する again out of sight. They weren't such fools they didn't know all he could tell them about 危険. He would be the fool, advertising himself now, after going to all the trouble he had to make his presence in that country a dead secret.

Probably they were 負かす／撃墜する there for the same 推論する／理由 he was,—to catch the 殺し屋s of beef, if they could. They must know that a man （武器などの）隠匿場所d in the 激しく揺するs as he was could 減少（する） them one by one out of their saddles—like 狙撃 grouse off a pine 支店.

Thinking of that, he swung the glasses slowly along the opposite hillside, 持つ／拘留するing them startled on a wisp of something like smoke drifting across his field of 見通し. While he watched uneasily, listening for the 割れ目 of a ライフル銃／探して盗む, the wisp thickened, 広げるd, until 激しく揺するs and bushes were 完全に obscured.

霧! He lowered the glasses and saw it come flowing into the gulch, reaching with long gray 小衝突 一打／打撃s to every 激しく揺する and jutting crag, 絵 a smooth blankness wherever it touched. He ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する into the canyon behind him and saw it was the same; and even up where he crouched, the clammy gray was enfolding him. He might have 推定する／予想するd it, he thought disgustedly, when the 勝利，勝つd died that morning and the 空気／公表する had that 蒸し暑い, damp feel. Damn such 天候, anyway. If he had to waste much more time getting nowhere, the 天候 would be so warm the damned thieves would have to lay off until 落ちる—unless they were devilish enough to butcher and let the meat rot. They were 有能な even of that, in his opinion.

井戸／弁護士席, the boys would 長，率いる for home now—and be lucky to make it, if this 霧 drifted in any worse. And that went for himself, if he didn't slide 負かす／撃墜する off that 山の尾根 mighty quick and get 支援する to where he had left マイク. He was inclined now to wish that he had not chosen his （軍の）野営地，陣営 in the most inaccessible place he could find where a horse could get in and out; a grassy hollow that must have been an old blowhole ages ago, with no 出口 except one 狭くする, 新たな展開ing fissure between two red hills. The Badlands were 十分な of strange places like that, hard to find even when one knew their 場所. He hadn't counted on 霧.

His horse was tied in a thicket where the grass was too scanty to attract 在庫／株 and the men he was looking for would not be likely to come. Maybe a mile 支援する to him, the way 半導体素子 would have to go, and the sooner he covered that mile the better.

By the time he had reached the foot of the 山の尾根, the gray 塀で囲む had の近くにd in until he could not see ten feet, and a ちらりと見ること at his watch told him that it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon—too few hours from 不明瞭 to please him much. The sooner he got to （軍の）野営地，陣営 the better.

He was 選ぶing his way carefully along the water-gouged base of the hill, looking for the place where he had climbed up to the grassy slope above the loose red 塀で囲む of the bank. A tricky place where a fellow could easily sprain an ankle or even break his 脚, if he stepped off the 辛勝する／優位 and took a 宙返り／暴落する 負かす／撃墜する that bank. It was かなり さらに先に along where he had started up. He remembered now that he had followed the 最高の，を越す of the 山の尾根 負かす／撃墜する やめる a long way, keeping under cover as much as possible while he looked for a vantage point with a 見解（をとる） into both canyons. He had not come this way where the hill 削減（する） straight 負かす／撃墜する, almost as if 鉄道／強行採決する graders had been at work cutting a level roadbed through.

Damn such a country, anyway. The short grass, curled and matted under the winter 嵐／襲撃するs, was 悪賢い as wet soap here, where the slope was steepest. Twice he had to lean and clutch the grass と一緒に him to keep from going over when his riding boots slipped on 霧-jeweled tufts. What he should have done, he now realized, was go 支援する along the 最高の，を越す of the 山の尾根 to the barren, rocky 倍の where he had climbed up. But the hill was too 法外な for that now.

How far he had gone he could not tell with any certainty; half a mile or more, he guessed. The 削減（する） bank seemed lower along there, and in places he could almost see the red 国／地域 of the canyon 床に打ち倒す. Too far 負かす／撃墜する to 危険 a jump, however, unless he had to do it. So he kept on, 辛勝する／優位ing along with his ライフル銃／探して盗む balanced in his left 手渡す, his 権利 outstretched ready to 得る，とらえる a handful of grass if he felt his feet slipping.

And it was then, while he was sweating over that 不安定な 地盤, that he felt and heard rather than saw something just beneath him. Whether it was an animal or a man, he could not at first 決定する. He waited, peering over the 辛勝する／優位, a growing excitement 生き返らせる his pulse so that he felt the 血 （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing against his 寺s. Two minutes—three—and a breath of 空気／公表する stirred the gray 一面に覆う／毛布 so that for an instant he saw.

Twenty feet or so 負かす／撃墜する the sheer bank a man was stooping over a carcass lying sprawled on the ground; a beef critter, he knew by the chunky 長，率いる and wide stubby horns. It was only a glimpse he got, then the 霧 一面に覆う／毛布 swung in and blotted the scene.

半導体素子's teeth snapped together on the 誓い he had almost shouted. That would have 警告するd the fellow, given him a chance to duck into the 霧 and get away. And here he was, after almost a week of 追跡（する）ing him, skinning a 飛行機で行くing U critter as bold as you please! If the damned 霧 would 解除する again. . . .

He jerked up his ライフル銃／探して盗む, meaning to take 目的（とする） and wait for another glimpse of the どろぼう. The movement threw him off balance as a 背信の grass tuft suddenly gave way under the foot 上りの／困難な. As he threw his 負わせる instinctively upon the other foot, that slipped as if he had stepped on grease. Flailing wildly with both 武器, he fought to 回復する his balance—and 発射 over the grassy brink in a sickening 急落（する），激減（する）.

"What the hell!" The man below yelped as if the words were jarred out of him, when 半導体素子 （機の）カム hurtling 負かす／撃墜する upon him. Had he remained stooping, his 支援する must have been broken by the 衝撃, but he straightened just as 半導体素子 landed in a heap on the carcass.

Dazed, the 勝利，勝つd knocked out of him and his ライフル銃／探して盗む gone, 半導体素子 half rose, groping blindly, clutching for a 持つ／拘留する on the どろぼう before the fellow got away. A 握りこぶし struck him a vicious blow on the 味方する of the 長，率いる, but his 武器 went out in a 広範囲にわたる, grappling 動議, got a handful of coat and hung on grimly, as a sharp 苦痛 削除するd his upper arm and shoulder. He wondered why he couldn't see, then knew that the 上陸 had jammed his hat 負かす／撃墜する over his eyebrows. And he couldn't let go and yank it up out of the way. The fellow struck again, jerked loose and ran.

By the time 半導体素子 had gotten to his feet and pulled up his hat, the 霧 was 倍のd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him in a 冷気／寒がらせる gray 塀で囲む. Clattering hoofbeats went up the canyon, were presently muffled and lost in the distance.

All he had to show for the 遭遇（する） were the 燃やすing 苦痛 across his shoulder, a handful of torn pocket from somebody's coat, a bruised and aching 団体／死体 and a terrible, 消費するing 激怒（する）, the greater because humiliation lay beneath it.

VI. — FIRST AID FROM POLLY

THE clip-clop of a shod horse trotting amongst scattered 激しく揺するs （機の）カム up the canyon, the sound muffled yet magnified in the 霧. Seemed の近くに too. Another damned cow どろぼう, 半導体素子 thought, and fumbled for his six-shooter. Shaken, still dazed from his 落ちる and the blow that followed it, he leaned against the red bank and waited grimly, teeth 始める，決める hard together. There'd be no 逃亡 for this one if he could help it—and he thought he could.

The hoofbeats were almost upon him before he could see the rider, a formless gray 形態／調整 in the 窒息させるing 集まり of 霧. 半導体素子 raised his gun as the 大打撃を与える clicked 支援する.

"I've got the 減少（する）," he 発表するd 厳しく. "Put up your 手渡すs, you blinkety-blink, blank-blank-blank! I'd like nothing better than to fill you so 十分な of lead you'd break your horse's 支援する trying to carry yuh. Pile off, damn yuh, and come over here—and make damned sure you don't crook an 肘 while you're getting here."

"井戸／弁護士席, of all the gall! You put 負かす／撃墜する that gun and stop your 断言するing at me, or I'm liable to try a little 狙撃 myself!"

"Hunh?" 半導体素子's mouth fell open and hung there in blank amazement.

"You heard me." The rider, a small, わずかな／ほっそりした 人物／姿／数字 on a chunky brown horse, reined closer. "Don't you try any of your ピストル強盗 策略 on me or you'll wish you hadn't. What do you want, anyway, yelling and bellowing around the way you've been doing?"

半導体素子 設立する some sort of a 発言する／表明する to use. "And who the devil may you be?" he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know. "If you 港／避難所't any more sense than to be 負かす／撃墜する in here, you can't complain at what you may see or hear." His 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd, blinking a little at the 霧 which seemed to be creeping into his brain. "What are you, anyhow? One of these beef butchers?"

The girl kicked her horse, 軍隊d it to stand 近づく the fresh carcass and like it. "No, I'm not. And I must say I'm not crazy about your manners. What's going on here, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be 長，率いるd for Denver."

半導体素子 星／主役にするd. "Denver? You sure have got the advantage of me—"

"井戸／弁護士席," she retorted, "I wouldn't brag about it, if I were you. Last Fourth of July you filled my 投手 with coffee a dozen times, there at the picnic at Cow Island. But of course you didn't see anybody but Julie Lang. You're 半導体素子 Bennett and I'm nobody at all—but I would like to know why you're 負かす／撃墜する here, pulling a gun on me and 断言するing like a 州警察官，騎馬警官 at me. I never did anything to you, did I?"

"I—you must be Shep Taylor's girl," 半導体素子 muttered confusedly. "I didn't—"

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm surprised!" The Taylor girl's トン was elaborately sarcastic. "You 現実に 人物／姿／数字d that out! Of course, 存在 introduced to me a couple of times at that darned picnic wouldn't give you the least idea—" She stopped 突然の, 製図／抽選 in her breath. Her 注目する，もくろむs darted here and there, quick ちらりと見ることs that saw and 登録（する）d whatever they fell upon. "What's that 血 dripping off your 手渡す for?" she 需要・要求するd はっきりと. "I didn't hear any 発射. What's been taking place here, anyway? You look," she 明言する／公表するd judicially, "sort of as if you'd been sent for and couldn't go."

She swung off her horse like a cowboy and （機の）カム to him, her gloved 手渡すs laying 持つ／拘留する of him, 解除するing his left arm to look at it, turning him a little so that she could see where the 血 （機の）カム from.

"Who 削除するd you like that?" she 需要・要求するd ひどく. "You've had a fight, it looks like to me. Was it you that hollered, a few minutes ago?"

"No." 半導体素子's 発言する／表明する was dull, unaccountably listless. "That was the other fellow—yelling when I dropped 負かす／撃墜する the bank on him."

She ちらりと見ることd quickly up the bank, gasped at the 高さ of it, which looked more than it really was, because the 最高の，を越す was hidden in the 霧. "The fellow that was butchering this beef," she said and looked again at the arm she was 持つ／拘留するing. "He 削除するd you with his skinning knife, from the looks of things. I heard a yell and in a minute a horse galloping off up the canyon. 井戸／弁護士席, we've got to do something about this 削減（する）. You're bleeding like a stuck pig, do you know that?"

"I—sure I know it."

His blurred トン made her look at him closely. "Where's your horse? No—wait a minute. We've got to stop this bleeding first thing. Sit 負かす／撃墜する—there on the beef—where I can get at you. You're so tall—"

半導体素子 sat 負かす／撃墜する, leaned his 長，率いる 支援する against the red bank. Dimly he was aware that the Taylor girl was doing things to his shoulder and upper arm, 涙／ほころびing cloth, wrapping and binding. Funny she should be off 負かす／撃墜する here by herself—no, he remembered now; some of the boys were joshing 疲れた／うんざりした about Polly Taylor last winter. They said he せねばならない sling his 宙返り飛行 on Polly and （問題を）取り上げる a ranch. He could run a lot of cattle and never 雇う help, because Polly was as good as four cow-punchers any day. They said she brought in the 逸脱するs and held things together...So her 存在 here wasn't so strange, maybe. He began wondering ばく然と what she might know about all this. . . .

"That'll have to do till you get where it can be washed out with carbolic," she said. "It's a 汚い long slice he took, but it isn't very 深い, thank goodness." She was pulling up his shirt collar, his coat. . . . "Lucky for you, old boy, you had on that 厚い sour-dough coat. If you'd been in your shirt sleeves, he'd have just about taken your arm off." She was buttoning him up like a small boy, talking briskly while she worked. "What in the world did you go and jump off that high bank for? It's a wonder you didn't break a 脚 or something. Why," she asked petulantly, "didn't you shoot him?"

半導体素子 wouldn't tell her then that he fell off the bank. He was afraid she might think that was funny. He didn't see why he had to go weak as a sick cat all at once. It didn't seem as though he had lost enough 血 for that. He forgot to consider the shock of that 落ちる 追加するd to the knife 負傷させる, and it surprised and disgusted him to find himself staggering when he tried to walk. He was like a man drunk.

"What's that you're hanging の上に?" Polly Taylor 需要・要求するd. "Oh. A piece of a coat. I suppose that's your 手がかり（を与える）," and she smiled 突然に up into his 直面する. "井戸／弁護士席, keep it, but it probably won't do you much good. Every 蓄える／店 in the country sells 手渡す-me-負かす／撃墜するs of that 肉親，親類d of cloth."

She いじめ（る）d him into getting on her horse and she 主張するd upon walking up to where he had left マイク. She wasn't lost, 正確に／まさに, she 宣言するd; she couldn't be, with old Pathfinder there. He'd take her home even in this 霧. He'd done it before, when it was dark as a stack of 黒人／ボイコット cats in a cellar. Where was he （軍の）野営地，陣営d—if it was a fair question? She'd stop by and 直す／買収する，八百長をする up that 削減（する） for him before she went on home.

半導体素子 did not feel much like arguing the point. Sick as he was, lame in every muscle from the 落ちる, he was put to the shameful necessity of riding a girl's horse and letting her walk; though she could have climbed on behind, if she had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to. He didn't have much use for girls, anyway. Pretty ones 特に. Darned 二塁打-crossers, every one of them. This one wasn't pretty—not with those freckles and that red hair in pigtails 負かす／撃墜する her 支援する—but if he let her tag along to （軍の）野営地，陣営, she'd go and blab her を回避する to every one she saw, telling all she knew about him, and then some. Dressed like a man. Pants and boots, chaps and a man's coat and hat—半導体素子 hated to see a girl trying to ape men. She wore a gun too. He could see why the boys joshed 疲れた／うんざりした.

Rambling, inconsequential thoughts, but they carried him along through the 霧, Polly Taylor 主要な the horse he 棒. She didn't have to, he thought irritably. He was 持つ／拘留するing the horn just because she had kept the reins herself. He didn't have to be 扱う／治療するd like a sick calf, but if she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to make herself important around there, let her go to it. He couldn't 追跡（する） that fellow in the 霧, anyway.

As they 近づくd the thicket where he had left his horse, マイク whinnied to let them know he was there. "Thanks. I'm all 権利 now," 半導体素子 said apathetically. "You better go on home. And I wish you'd do me the 好意 not to say anything about me—"

Polly Taylor stood beside マイク's shoulder, looking up at 半導体素子, watching to see if he were going to 落ちる out of the saddle.

"You'll look nice if you get 血-毒（薬）ing in that arm," she told him はっきりと. "Of course, I won't say anything about you. How big a fool do you think I am? You're 負かす／撃墜する here on the 静かな, trying to get the goods on whoever's 殺人，大当り 飛行機で行くing U cattle. 井戸／弁護士席, what do you suppose I'm here for? You must know they're trying to でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる the Hobble-O. We've been filling a beef 契約 with Fort Assiniboine—"

"Not with hind ４半期/4分の1s, I hope?"

"Not on your life. Not any more than belongs to the critter. And we've got the hides to show for every beef we've 運ぶ／漁獲高d out." Her chin went up with a sidewise 攻撃する of her 長，率いる. "We may be hard up, but we 港／避難所't come 負かす／撃墜する to peddling any meat but our own. So I'm on a still 追跡（する）, same as you. Pa and Snuffle have got their 手渡すs 十分な, and the boys have all the chores to do, and we can't afford to 雇う help except in 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up time."

"A girl's got no 商売／仕事 prowling 負かす／撃墜する in here—"

"Why not? I'm no Julie Lang." In that gray half-light, her 直面する looked 影をつくる／尾行するd. "I'm pretty handy with a gun, and that's what all you men bank on for 保護, isn't it? And I'd 徹底的に捜す hell backwards to help Pa." She ちらりと見ることd around her, an involuntary movement that betrayed her 恐れる. "What I'm afraid of, Mr. Bennett, is that they're trying to でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる up a 事例／患者 against him for—the Vigilantes. If they can—"

She broke off 突然の and 解除するd 半導体素子's ライフル銃／探して盗む to its scabbard. "I 選ぶd this up and brought it along. I thought it must be yours," she said and smiled faintly. "And here's something else I 設立する. Belongs to the other fellow, I guess." She swung up into his 見解（をとる） a small, 血-stained ax of the 肉親，親類d easily carried behind the cantle, probably wrapped in a gunny 解雇（する）. A necessary 器具／実施する, used for splitting 負かす／撃墜する the backbone of a beef and separating the ４半期/4分の1s.

"One of the 道具s of his 貿易（する）," she said. "You had a taste of the other one. 元気づける up, Mr. Bennett. At least, he'll have to 追跡（する） himself a new ax."

In his 悲惨 半導体素子 took that as a sly dig at his 失敗 to get the man when he had the chance. Had the fellow 権利 there within reach and this was all he had to show for it! Even lost his ライフル銃／探して盗む—and of course it had to be the girl who 設立する it and brought it along—and then gave it 支援する to him with that sarcastic smile on her 直面する. Hell, she was 扱う／治療するing him like a tenderfoot!

He （機の）カム 近づく 辞退するing to tell her where his （軍の）野営地，陣営 was, but that knife 削減（する） was throbbing and 燃やすing so 不正に he thought maybe she was 権利 about 血-毒（薬）ing and he had better let her 直す／買収する，八百長をする it up; it was in such a darned ぎこちない place he couldn't …に出席する to it himself; on the point of his shoulder and running 負かす／撃墜する the 支援する of his arm, like that, he'd have to be a contortionist to get at it. And he 悪口を言う／悪態d the luck that made him need the girl's help.

He resented too the fact that she was not impressed with his hide-out. Oh, yes, she said, she knew about that little 水盤／入り江. The Devil's Dipper, she called it, because of its 形態／調整. She didn't know how many knew about it; not many, she guessed. It would do for the 現在の, though the spring in there always 乾燥した，日照りのd up along in July, and it was the worst place for snakes she'd ever seen. 安全な enough now, though. But if he 手配中の，お尋ね者 a real hide-out, she'd show him one that certainly was a dandy. Folks could 追跡（する） till they were blind and they'd never find it.

All this when they had wormed their way into the Devil's Dipper. Outside, she hadn't talked more than was 絶対 necessary, because you couldn't tell how の近くに some one might be in the 霧 and it didn't 支払う／賃金 to take a chance.

半導体素子 resented her shrewdness. And he hated the unconcerned efficiency she 陳列する，発揮するd in getting a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 started, boiling water and a flour 解雇（する） he'd 断言する was clean as soap and water could make it; boiled a needleful of white thread too, and 乾燥した，日照りのd it by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, while she washed the 削減（する） with carbolic water so hot he could scarcely keep from yelling when it touched the raw flesh. She was very efficient too, in sewing up the 負傷させる. At least, he 裁判官d she was, she 傷つける so damnably, sewing over and over and taking as many stitches as she thought were needed, with no 陳謝 for the 苦痛.

She had 半導体素子 sweating and gritting his teeth with the agony of her ministrations, but all he said was, "I'll bet you're a dandy at doctoring horses." His トン left no 疑問 whatever of his meaning.

Polly Taylor calmly buttoned his collar and tied another flour 解雇（する） around his neck for a sling. "Yes. When Pathfinder got 削減（する） up in our new barb-wire 盗品故買者, you should have seen the sewing I had to do. He looked like a crazy quilt when I got through, and he kicked three boards off the stable. But he sure 傷をいやす／和解させるd up nice."

Darn her, she didn't even 割れ目 a smile to show whether she meant it or not.

He had to 収容する／認める, though, that he felt better after the first 苦痛 was over, and that the supper she cooked was the best meal he had eaten since Billings; which was surprising, since 半導体素子 個人として considered himself the best （軍の）野営地，陣営-解雇する／砲火／射撃 cook in the country. He had also a 気が進まない 評価 of the way she washed the dishes and tidied （軍の）野営地，陣営 afterwards, but that did not mean he liked her any better.

He was glad when she finally led up her horse, stuck a very small boot toe into the stirrup and went up with a springy lightness into the saddle. Thanks he gave her, as his mother had taught him to do. She 解任するd them with a shrug and a wave of her 手渡す, oddly out of keeping with her r?e as simple ranch girl.

"The unwritten 法律 of the 範囲," she said, with an 逮捕（する）ing irony in her 発言する／表明する. "嘘（をつく） around （軍の）野営地，陣営 and don't try to use that arm, and don't monkey with the 包帯, either. I'll be 支援する in a couple of days to take a look at it."

"Don't put yourself out on my account." 半導体素子 hoped that didn't sound like a 無視する，冷たく断わる, but he didn't want her fussing around him, and that was the truth. "And don't get lost," he 追加するd perfunctorily.

"Oh, Pathfinder will take care of that, all 権利," she said carelessly, and gave him a long 熟考する／考慮するing ちらりと見ること as she swung her horse out into the smothery blackness of the night.

井戸／弁護士席, she was good-hearted, all 権利, but he was glad she was gone. He must have been. He told himself so at least a dozen times before he slept.

VII. — WHY WAIT FOR PROOF?

THE next day snailed by, a sodden century between dripping 夜明け and a 霧雨ing dusk. 半導体素子 remained within the Devil's Dipper and would have slept the hours away, if his arm had let him. Since its throbbing kept him awake, he did plenty of thinking. The result of his meditations slipped out while Polly Taylor was talking next day about the stealing. He hadn't ーするつもりであるd to discuss the 事柄—or any other—with Polly, but somehow he 設立する himself telling her all about the trouble with Cash Farley and the 残り／休憩（する） of Big Butch's ギャング（団）, and just why he had taken it upon himself to run them 負かす／撃墜する on this beef rustling.

Polly hadn't thought about Butch 吊りくさび as the 有罪の party. She was sure that it was an 試みる／企てる to 巻き込む the Hobble-O and Butch had always been a pretty good neighbor. "Anyway, he doesn't 支払う／賃金 any attention to cattle," she argued. "What he goes after is horses."

The same old argument. It made 半導体素子 tired. "He goes after whatever will put the biggest crimp in the other fellow," he 明言する／公表するd. "He's after the 飛行機で行くing U because I'm working there; or was. I've got to catch him pretty quick, now, or the 天候'll be too warm to 運ぶ／漁獲高 out more beef. He must take it out the other way, toward Glasgow. He'll have to lay off pretty soon now, so I'm going to get busy."

"Not with that arm," Polly told him きっぱりと. "And they're not selling the beef. They don't care how warm the 天候 gets; they'll go on 殺人，大当り whenever they find a critter handy. It isn't any selling proposition at all."

"No?"

"Why, no! 港／避難所't you caught on yet?" Polly sweetened the 乾燥した，日照りのd apples and 始める，決める them aside to 冷静な／正味の. Her cheeks were red from bending over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, almost as red as her mouth, 半導体素子 noticed. All the short hairs curled in little ringlets around her 直面する...If she had a mind to 直す／買収する，八百長をする herself up a little, she'd be good-looking—not that it 事柄d.

"Caught on to what?" he asked guardedly, knowing beforehand it was just some silly girl notion of hers.

"Why, the—the devilish meanness of them. The foxy way they're keeping （疑いを）晴らす and making it look like Papa's work. They aren't selling any beef. All they do is 肌 out the hind ４半期/4分の1s and pack them off somewhere and 捨てる them. I can show you one place where they threw at least a dozen into a ravine."

"You sure of that?"

"Of course." She gave him a quick, impatient ちらりと見ること. "Didn't I just say I saw a whole pile of them?" She stood up to go and suddenly 激怒（する） took 持つ／拘留する of her. Both her small 手渡すs 二塁打d into 握りこぶしs. "殺人，大当り's too good for a man that will do such a thing! I'll pin it on him before I'm through—"

"You will!" 半導体素子's snort of amused contempt was maddening. It placed her 負かす／撃墜する where children strut and brag. "I 推定する／予想する to 扱う this 状況／情勢 myself," he 追加するd, with a 強化するing of the mouth. "It's a little outside a woman's 州, I'm afraid."

"Oh, yes, you'll 扱う it!" Polly Taylor looked furious. "If it's left for you to 扱う—You'd let them make a 事例／患者 against the Hobble-O that would cost my father his life! That Cow Island bunch is just waiting for a chance—"

"静める yourself," was 半導体素子's ironical advice. "Your father has nothing to do with this. I'm the one they're after, and I'm going to Butch 吊りくさび and call for a show-負かす／撃墜する 権利 now!" Though his 発言する／表明する was 静める enough, 半導体素子's 注目する，もくろむs and the ゆらめく of his nostrils betrayed how angry he was. "I'll thank you not to 干渉する this 事件／事情／状勢."

"Oh, will you!" Polly's breath was coming 急速な／放蕩な. "You must think you're some punkins, having Butch 吊りくさび and his bunch spending their time 殺人，大当り 飛行機で行くing U cattle just because they're mad at you! Let me tell you one thing, 半導体素子 Bennett: If Big Butch was after you, he'd get you! Don't make any mistake about that. He certainly wouldn't take out his spite 殺人，大当り beef—he'd 追跡（する） you up and put a 弾丸 through you, and no ifs or ands about it!"

"Yes?"

"Yes!" 嵐／襲撃するd Polly. "And you needn't speak to me in that supercilious トン of 発言する／表明する, either. You're so darned conceited you think you've started a 範囲 war, just because you got Butch 吊りくさび 負かす／撃墜する on you!" She snatched up her gloves, buttoned herself into her coat with indignant haste, and with an angry 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする of her 長，率いる, she went over to her horse and 機動力のある him like a boy who was so mad he couldn't see straight.

But she could not resist a last fling at 半導体素子. She reined over to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and looked at him stormily. "If you ever should accidentally find out the truth of this 事柄," she said, in a 抑えるd トン of bitterness, "I'm afraid you're going to get the worst 揺さぶる you've ever had. You'll find out you don't 人物／姿／数字 in it at all. And you needn't waste your time on Butch 吊りくさび, I can tell you that much."

半導体素子 permitted his mouth a scornful 新たな展開 at one corner. "Sorry if he's a particular friend of yours, 行方不明になる Taylor—"

"Oh, you—"

"Because I'm certainly going after him."

行方不明になる Taylor gave another 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする of her 長，率いる. "Yes, I've got a picture of you going after Big Butch!" And with that she kicked Pathfinder with her 刺激（する）s and hurtled off toward the crevice before 半導体素子 could translate his emotions into language permissible in the presence of a lady.

"Damn it, I wish she'd been a man when she said that," he gritted helplessly, glaring after her. And he began to pack his 所持品—with one 手渡す mostly—and left the Devil's Dipper with his mind wrathfully 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon に引き続いて his own 追跡する regardless. He had talked pretty big about going after Big Butch and calling for a show-負かす／撃墜する; he wasn't やめる ready to commit 自殺, he told himself glumly; he'd have to wait for some proof before he did anything やめる so 激烈な as that. But he also told himself that he'd be damned if he were going to let Polly Taylor or any other girl lead him around by the nose. He wasn't broken to lead, he'd have her know.

That day he spent in finding another （軍の）野営地，陣営 where that darned Taylor girl couldn't 位置を示す him. It wasn't 平易な. He was 強いるd to go deeper into the Badlands, where few cattle had been tempted to 逸脱する, and where the beef butchers would not bother to look for them, their 反対する 存在 to kill beef where they would be 設立する.

The （軍の）野営地，陣営 he chose didn't 控訴 him, and by night he was so mad at Polly Taylor and so 哀れな with his arm and 確かな bruised areas that began to raise cain with him after hours in the saddle, that he was 熟した for any crazy notion that 掴むd him. And in the night one （機の）カム and 設立する him awake and eager to receive it.

Why wait for proof? Didn't he know enough already—all he needed to know? The brilliance of that short 削減（する） of logic dazzled him so that he could hardly wait for daylight. It never occurred to him that a touch of fever was behind the brilliance.

A light snow had fallen in the night. 罰金 天候 for 追跡するing the beef 殺し屋s, he thought; but he wasn't going to monkey around any longer 追跡（する）ing them.

"When you want to kill a snake, you don't start in on his tail," he muttered. "You go to work on his 長，率いる, by 雷鳴." Which he すぐに proceeded to do, breaking （軍の）野営地，陣営 again and taking the pack horse and colt along with him. The particular snake he was after 穴を開けるd up in a canyon he did not know, but he did know one end of the 追跡する that led to it, and rather than spend hours of haphazard searching in that wild and broken country, he 長，率いるd toward the Whoop-up 追跡する.

Where three canyons 支店d like spread fingers, 半導体素子 took the one farthest to the left—a turning that had nearly （一定の）期間d 災害 for him last summer, when he had three 無法者s in 牽引する and the horse he 棒 had known this 追跡する all too 井戸／弁護士席. That ride had been in moonlight, and now the shadowless gray light gave an altogether different 面 to the 狭くする winding gulch he followed. But 確かな little 目印s there was no mistaking and 半導体素子's memory held like glue any 追跡する he had once ridden over. He made the 権利 turnings into several different gulches and canyons and so （機の）カム out finally into the one he 手配中の，お尋ね者. If he had had any 疑問 of that, two 始める，決めるs of fresh horse 跡をつけるs pointed the way before him. He followed them boldly, still pleased with his idea.

He （機の）カム out into a 水盤／入り江 which on a 地図／計画する must have looked like the fat 団体／死体 of a tarantula, it was so surrounded by crooked 脚s of canyons and ravines. At one 味方する, where a willow-fringed creek flowed through, he glimpsed a 天然のまま rail 盗品故買者 through the trees, but the hoofmarks led straight on through the snow to where the hills （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する in a notch filled with juniper and pines. The end of the 追跡する, by the look of things. He 緩和するd the gun in his holster and 棒 今後, grim and watchful as a wolf.

VIII. — BIG BUTCH

SEVERAL horses loafed in a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-政治家 corral, and three of them carried sweaty saddle 示すs and had been hard ridden, by the look of them. Behind the corral a スピードを出す／記録につける stable squatted against the 小衝突-fringed 塀で囲む of the 水盤／入り江, and さらに先に along, half 隠すd within the thicket, 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd a スピードを出す／記録につける cabin larger than the 普通の／平均（する） size 好意d by bachelor outfits. 半導体素子 設立する the 追跡する of boot 跡をつけるs in the snow and followed.

He had no special 計画（する）, except that he was going to 直面する Butch 吊りくさび and call for a show-負かす／撃墜する. After that—井戸／弁護士席, he didn't much care what （機の）カム after that, so long as he put a stop to the depredations against the 飛行機で行くing U. They might kill him, but he'd go 負かす／撃墜する fighting, anyway.

In that crazy mood he dismounted stiffly before the cabin and limped to the door. With his good 手渡す, he rapped peremptorily upon the stout planking.

"Come in!" two 発言する／表明するs bellowed in chorus, and 半導体素子 押し進めるd open the door and stepped inside.

Silence 迎える／歓迎するd him. After hours of looking at snow, the room seemed to him 黒人／ボイコット dark, but he knew that he stood はっきりと 明らかにする／漏らすd to others who were watching him. He could feel their 注目する，もくろむs upon him, 調査（する）ing for his errand there; could feel too how fingers caressed 誘発する／引き起こすs, waiting for his first 敵意を持った move.

"Is Butch 吊りくさび here?" Even though he could not see a thing, 半導体素子's ちらりと見ること moved around the room.

"Sure, I'm here. Shut the door."

半導体素子 leaned his 支援する against it, a little 脅すd now at his foolhardiness in coming here like this. It did not show in his 直面する, however, nor in his manner, which was stony 静める. As his 注目する，もくろむs adjusted themselves to the half light, 反対するs 明らかにする／漏らすd themselves, ばく然と at first, then with 詐欺師 詳細（に述べる）s. Four men sat around a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する smoking, the remains of a meal before them. All were 注目する，もくろむing him distrustfully, their 権利 手渡すs hidden—持つ／拘留するing guns, he knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough without 存在 told. He waited.

"井戸／弁護士席, what you want of me? Who in hell are yuh, anyway?"

That was Big Butch, then. 半導体素子 had not been sure. Butch was sitting 直面するing him, 注目する，もくろむing him curiously, with his 手渡すs out of sight.

"I guess you knew 病弱な Bennett—heard of him at least. I'm his brother 半導体素子, that took 病弱な's horse away from Cash Farley last Fourth of July. I also 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up Cash and a couple more of your men and turned them over to Dave Burch for horse thieves. I'm the man they tried to kill last summer, over toward One Man Coulee—the time Cash Farley and three of your men were 発射."

"Yeah? And what you braggin' about it now for?"

半導体素子 緩和するd his sore arm in its sling, his 注目する，もくろむs never leaving Butch's 直面する. "I'm not bragging. I'm just laying my cards on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and calling for a show-負かす／撃墜する. I'm off the 飛行機で行くing U payroll now—やめる them almost two weeks ago—"

Big Butch 注目する，もくろむd him curiously. "What the hell difference does that make?"

"井戸／弁護士席, damn it, I'm the one you've got it in for. Not the 飛行機で行くing U. J.G. never did a thing to you in his life. You've been taking out your grudge on him and you've got to やめる it. I'm willing to fight it out alone. Leave the 飛行機で行くing U 厳密に out of it. Do your Injun 行為／法令／行動する with me. But I'll tell you 権利 now, Cash Farley asked for all he got and so did those others."

Big Butch darted a sidelong ちらりと見ること at one of the men, who すぐに rose and hitched up his pants, as if he were getting himself ready for 活動／戦闘, though all he did was sidle over toward 半導体素子 and wait for その上の orders. Butch's light blue 注目する，もくろむs showed in gleaming slits between his blond 攻撃するs.

"Who all's with yuh?"

"Nobody. I don't ask any one to fight my 戦う／戦いs for me."

"Sam, you go take a look around."

A lean dark man got up and disappeared through a dark doorway in the far corner of the room, his 事情に応じて変わる gait somehow like a coyote's. Butch waited, his blank 思索的な 星／主役にする never leaving 半導体素子's 直面する.

Then Sam slipped in the 支援する way, puzzled creases between his 黒人／ボイコット eyebrows. "He come alone, Butch, far as the canyon, anyway. Got a pack horse and a yearlin' colt out 前線 here, beside his saddle horse. Looks like he's moved in."

Butch grunted something under his breath. "Might be a blind, at that. You and Flicker go take a look 支援する in the canyon. Don't show up here till you're dead sure nobody's trailin' him. Anybody you run acrost, bring 'em in. Sime, you better go along." He brought a 手渡す up in sight, laying his gun on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Its muzzle 星／主役にするd like a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ at 半導体素子.

"Come and 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する, feller. Sam, 注ぐ him some coffee before yuh go." With his left 手渡す, Butch smoothed 負かす／撃墜する his 赤みを帯びた mustache, his watchful gaze still on 半導体素子. "Seddown, I told yuh! You're just as 平易な to kill settin' 負かす／撃墜する as you are standin' up, ain't yuh? You and me has got some chin whackin' to do here."

He waited until 半導体素子 decided to sit 負かす／撃墜する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, his hat on the 床に打ち倒す beside him. He watched while 半導体素子 deliberately drew his gun, laid it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する beside him.

"Maybe you'd just as soon not shoot a man that hasn't got a chance," 半導体素子 said 事柄-of-factly, as if he did not know that at least one of the three had stopped at the 支援する door and was watching every move he made. "Your gun's cocked. 地雷 isn't. If you call that an even break—"

"Hell, you're crazy as a loon," said Butch and grinned. He turned his gun aside, let 負かす／撃墜する the 大打撃を与える with his thumb. "That, or you've got the 神経 of a 厚かましさ／高級将校連 monkey. I ain't goin' to shoot yuh, kid; not unless you （人が）群がる me into it. Drink your coffee and eat a little something. You look like you needed it."

The door behind 半導体素子 clicked shut. The two were alone together in the cabin. "井戸／弁護士席," 半導体素子 said 厳しく, "what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let the 飛行機で行くing U alone—やめる butchering their beef—or what?"

Butch passed a dish of fried venison, setting it 負かす／撃墜する within 平易な reach, when 半導体素子 made no move to take it. "So that's what's eatin' on yuh? Beef rustlin', hunh?" He pursed his lips, his mustache ends standing straight out. "You think I been doin' all that butcherin'? That why you 棒 in here, just to bone me about it?"

"What else?" 半導体素子's ちらりと見ること bored into Butch's light 注目する，もくろむs. "To make you fight in the open. If you've got it in for me—"

"Hell's 解雇する／砲火／射撃, kid!" swore Butch. "Any little trouble you might of had with Cash, it was him and you for it. You never heard me make any （民事の）告訴, did you? 事柄 uh fact, you done me a 好意 and didn't know it. Cash was gittin' too big for his boots around here. Pullin' some of the boys over to him. Why," Butch confided 真面目に, "damn it, kid, I never had a thing to do with it that time they run off them Flyin' U horses last summer. That was Cash, branchin' out fer himself. It was him 手配中の，お尋ね者 to git you for draggin' him in to Cow Island. Why, hell, I'd sent that bunch off the other way to see about gittin' 配達／演説／出産 on some horses I bought. I never knowed they was over swappin' lead with you boys till it was all over."

"によれば you, then, you're plumb 洪水ing with 感謝 to me. Is that the idea?" 半導体素子's 発言する／表明する dripped sarcasm.

"Wel-l, I ain't 売春婦s-tyle any," drawled Butch, laugh wrinkles showing around his 注目する，もくろむs. "You done me a 好意 last summer, whether you knowed it or not. Me and Cash was about 予定 to lock horns over who was boss around here. All them boys you folks beefed over your way, they was trouble-製造者s from the word go." He slid the bean dish invitingly toward 半導体素子. "No, I ain't got it in for yuh, kid. You saved me some trouble, maybe."

"Then if that's the 事例／患者," 半導体素子 retorted, "what's your 反対する in butchering 飛行機で行くing U cattle and letting half of 'em lay and rot? If that isn't spite work, what is it? Even a coyote has his own 推論する／理由s for pulling 負かす／撃墜する calves."

Dull crimson flowed up to roots of Butch's sandy hair. "Go 平易な there on the 指名する callin'," he 警告するd. "Where'd you git the idea't I'm 支援する of that beef rustlin'? Hell, I ain't no beef peddler—and skinnin' cattle on a 冷淡な day ain't my idee of fun."

It was 半導体素子's turn to grow red. "井戸／弁護士席, after all that trouble last summer with your outfit, a fellow 'd 自然に suppose—" He broke off. He hadn't a 捨てる of real 証拠 against Butch. He was just guessing; had been all along. "No one else has any grudge against the 飛行機で行くing U," he finished lamely.

"Say!" cried Butch hotly. "When I git a grudge agin a man, he knows it 権利 now! Him and his fond relations, when they send out for the 団体／死体." He leaned 怒って across his dirty plate, his pale blue 注目する，もくろむs like polished steel. "If I had a grudge agin you or the outfit you work for—damn it, I'd be bouncin' 弾丸s offn your damn' carcass long ago. I sure wouldn't go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する skinnin' cattle to git even. That's a cinch."

半導体素子 注目する，もくろむd him doubtfully, 納得させるd in spite of himself. He chewed a corner of his lip, laid a 手渡す on his sore arm, aware now of its throbbing, which in the heat of his 告訴，告発s he had not noticed.

"井戸／弁護士席, maybe I've been barking up the wrong tree," he said wearily. "But if you aren't at the 底（に届く） of it, who is?"

Butch 星／主役にするd him 負かす／撃墜する. "You know who's been haulin' out beef by the four-horse 負担s all winter," he said finally. "Or don't yuh?"

"The Hobble-O, you mean? I don't believe—"

"控訴 yourself," Butch said gruffly. "If old Shep can git away with it, that's all 権利 with me. I ain't buyin' in on what's 非，不，無 of my 商売／仕事."

"But they've got hides to show for all the beef—"

"Yeah? That's 罰金. All their beef 契約s with the fort, I s'提起する／ポーズをとる—and all the hind ４半期/4分の1s they peddle between here and there!" Butch laughed a little.

半導体素子 gave him a quick, sharp look. "Have they been peddling hind ４半期/4分の1s along the road? Do you know that for a fact?"

Butch settled 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める, chuckling to himself. On a sudden impulse he leaned さらに先に, 新たな展開d his 抱擁する 団体／死体 and with a long arm reached the coffeepot steaming on the stove. He filled his cup, held the マリファナ toward 半導体素子.

"Lemme 注ぐ yuh some hot coffee," he said. "It ain't goin' to 毒（薬） yuh to eat 無法者 grub, as they call it. You keep your 商売／仕事 under your own hat in this country and you git the 指名する of bein' an 無法者. Cash and some of the boys kinda got it into their 長，率いるs they oughta live up to it, looks like. Served 'em damn 権利. Kid, you look sick. What happened your arm?" His 発言する／表明する changed, was gruffly friendly and 同情的な. Casting a ちらりと見ること around the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, he 選ぶd up a clean tin cup, filled it and held it out to 半導体素子. "You and me oughta git along 罰金," he grinned. "You sure have got 神経—comin' here and jumpin' me about that beef killin', like you had a 連隊 uh 兵士s behind your 支援する. By—I'll put in any time with a man that's got guts!"

半導体素子 was human enough to 軟化する a little to that friendly 態度. He took the cup and drank the strong hot brew thirstily, but over the 縁 his brown 注目する，もくろむs still held their look of 目的 that would not be turned aside.

"Just what do you know about the Hobble-O peddling hind ４半期/4分の1s—?"

"Say!" Butch's トン was a direct 抗議する. "I don't want to git mixed up in this, kid. Me and the Hobble-O has been gittin' along just 罰金, leavin' each other 厳密に alone. Shep's got women folks and a couple of kids to 料金d. I wouldn't want to git him into no trouble."

"But that 発言／述べる you made; that's straight goods, is it?"

Butch spooned more sugar into his coffee. "That they've been peddling on the 味方する? Sure, it is. I know of several places where they sold a hind ４半期/4分の1 on the way up to the fort. Course, you can't tell by the color of the meat what brand it wore." He grinned. "I don't know—Flyin' U beef tastes about the same as Hobble-O, I reckon."

"Somebody might be trying to でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる the Hobble-O." When Polly Taylor had said that, 半導体素子 had thought it silly. It looked more plausible now.

Butch gave a snort of dissent. "Who? The Flyin' U, maybe? It sure as hell ain't me. I got my work 削減（する） out, mindin' my own 商売／仕事 and livin' 負かす／撃墜する the lies folks peddle about me."

半導体素子 watched Butch refill his cup with coffee, said "Whoa" at the proper time and drank it straight 負かす／撃墜する. "井戸／弁護士席, looks like I've 逸脱するd into a box canyon on this rustling 商売／仕事," he said gloomily. "I was so dead 確かな it was you, Butch, I never looked for anybody else. I sure would like to know who it was I jumped the other day in the 霧."

He proceeded to tell 正確に／まさに how that 遭遇（する） had come about, watching Butch's 直面する while he talked. Butch was 利益／興味d, but it was perfectly 明らかな that he was 審理，公聴会 it for the first time. And he had no idea who might have 削除するd 半導体素子; or said he had 非，不，無. But he asked how far it was from the Hobble-O, and he looked わずかに amused when 半導体素子 told how the girl had come along just then and had sewn up the 負傷させる for him.

"And uh course you swallowed all she told yuh," Butch commented.

"井戸／弁護士席, not—"

He did not finish the 宣告，判決. The door was 押し進めるd open and some one was propelled into the room, the man Sime に引き続いて すぐに after.

Butch 星／主役にするd in astonishment, and with his cup 均衡を保った halfway to his mouth, 半導体素子 turned to look at the newcomer.

It was Polly Taylor. Her hat was knocked aslant on her 長，率いる, a lock of hair had fallen 負かす／撃墜する across her forehead and across one 炎ing 注目する，もくろむ. From shoulders to hips a rope was 負傷させる 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her わずかな／ほっそりした 団体／死体, pinioning her 武器 to her 味方するs.

IX. — POLLY BUYS IN

THE box 半導体素子 was sitting on turned over with a bump as he sprang up, reaching for his gun on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. A 純粋に 直感的に 活動／戦闘 born of his impulse to 救助（する） the girl. Polly chose to put a different 解釈／通訳 upon it.

"So you're in on this too!" she flung at him. "You didn't come here to fight Butch—you just decided to move in out of the 天候. And I, like a fool, thought you were going to need 保護! Made it in time for dinner, I see." Her 発言する／表明する was high, strident with impotent fury. "井戸／弁護士席, go ahead, why don't you? Shoot me for finding out what a liar you are!"

"I wouldn't be any bigger a fool than the Lord made me, if I were you," 半導体素子 advised her bitingly. "I certainly didn't give you the impression I needed a woman's 保護, I hope!"

Butch was on his feet, 小衝突ing past 半導体素子. "What you bring that girl here for?" he 需要・要求するd 厳しく of Sime, his ちらりと見ること going past him to Sam and Flicker, who had come in and were standing by the door, uncertain of the next move. "Take that damned rope off her, you chump!"

"She's a hell-cat, Butch," Sime demurred. "We 追跡するd her up の中で the 激しく揺するs, where she was watchin' （軍の）野営地，陣営 with a ライフル銃／探して盗む. Had her glove off all ready to shoot when me and Flicker nabbed her—and lookit what she done to me!" He 陳列する，発揮するd scratches on his 直面する, one の近くに to the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ and another 深い one raked 負かす／撃墜する the 味方する of his high nose. "Tried to claw m' 注目する，もくろむs out. We brung her in, like you said, but we shore had one hell of a time till we roped her. You better leave it stay 権利 where it's at, Butch—"

"Who the hell's runnin' this （軍の）野営地，陣営? You or me?" And as Sime flung up his 手渡すs in a gesture of 解雇／（訴訟の）却下, throwing all 責任／義務 on the boss, Butch untied the rope and flipped it off the girl. But his 注目する，もくろむs had not 軟化するd in the slightest degree.

"What you doing 負かす／撃墜する in here, anyway?"

Polly Taylor twitched her shoulders as the rope left them, tucked 支援する the lock of hair and pulled her hat straight, while Butch 注目する，もくろむd her.

"That's 非，不，無 of your 商売／仕事, that I can see. You make that cutthroat of a Flicker give me 支援する my guns and be quick about it too!"

"What was you spyin' on this （軍の）野営地，陣営 for? You know what happens to 秘かに調査するs, don'tcha?" Butch scowled 負かす／撃墜する at her with the fearsome 空気／公表する of a man trying to 脅す a child into good 行為.

"Fiddlesticks!" snapped Polly. "You're not going to do a thing and you know it 同様に as I do. You wouldn't dare." Her ちらりと見ること swung contemptuously to 半導体素子. "I did think I might be needed here. But I guess not. You don't seem to be in any 広大な／多数の／重要な danger, after all."

"If I were," 半導体素子 snapped 支援する at her, "I certainly wouldn't holler to you for help. It seems to me you're taking a good 取引，協定 upon yourself, 行方不明になる Taylor, when you follow me around with the mistaken idea of taking care of me."

"I sure was a fool for believing a word you said," she cried. "Pretending you had it in for Butch and all the time—"

"Why," Big Butch 削減（する） in, "me and 半導体素子's the best of friends. I was just offerin' him a 職業 breakin' horses." He looked at 半導体素子.

Polly gasped. "Why—is that—would you go to work for Butch 吊りくさび?"

Her トン was so shocked, so incredulous, that 半導体素子's pride was stung to a 冷淡な fury. "And why not, if I took the notion?" His トン asked その上の if it were any 商売／仕事 of hers what he did. It was as if there were two of him standing there, looking at the girl, and as if one of him were furious because the 残り／休憩（する） of him was touched by her 関心 for his 福利事業; touched and sorry for the humiliation she would die rather than 収容する／認める. But the furious one was the stronger one just now and did all the talking, because he was young enough to be terribly afraid these men might think he was under a woman's thumb; tied to this girl's apron string. His 直面する and 発言する／表明する 冷気／寒がらせるd. "破産した／（警察が）手入れするing broncs is my line of work," he 追加するd, not looking at her.

Polly gave him a withering 星／主役にする. "Yes, you certainly are in 罰金 形態／調整 to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする broncs," she reminded him. "It's nothing to me, of course—but I was under the impression you had another 職業 火刑／賭けるd out for yourself. I see I was wrong. It's 価値（がある） the trip 負かす／撃墜する here to get the facts."

"You've got no call to be 負かす／撃墜する here," Butch said 厳しく. "Your folks oughta keep you to home. Taggin' a feller around over the country—it ain't purty. You'd better be home helpin' your maw."

"T-tagging a fellow around—". 激怒（する） choked Polly Taylor. "Oh, I could kill the whole bunch of you!"

From the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ 半導体素子 stole a ちらりと見ること at her, saw her swallow with clenched teeth, her 注目する，もくろむs blinking 支援する the 涙／ほころびs. In spite of his affronted pride, in spite of those four scowling men 注目する，もくろむing her, he had a strong impulse to put an arm around her straight little shoulders and 慰安 her somehow. It was a damned shame. Butch and all of them 列／漕ぐ／騒動ing with her like that. She meant all 権利. . . .

"Give me my guns, Butch 吊りくさび!"

Butch grinned. "What for? To shoot me with? Not on your life." He looked at her, 新たな展開ing his mustache. From under his eyebrows he 発射 a ちらりと見ること at his men. "Sam and Flicker, you go with her as far as the Hobble-O line 盗品故買者—"

"They shall not! I won't have them 近づく me!"

"—and give her 支援する her guns when she's on her own land; or her paw's land, rather." He 選ぶd up her ライフル銃／探して盗む, pumped out all the 爆撃するs, 選ぶd them off the 床に打ち倒す and 手渡すd them 厳粛に to Polly. He 動議d to Sime for her six-shooter, took it and emptied the cylinder before he gave the two guns to Sam.

"Good-by, 行方不明になる Taylor; sorry you can't stay longer," he said, with a sardonic smile. "The boys'll see yuh 安全な home. And if you'll take a fool's advice, you'll stay there after this and keep your nose out of other folks' 商売／仕事."

半導体素子 made an impatient movement, looked past Polly at the three men. Evidently they did not impress him, for he turned to Butch and said, "I'll see that she gets home all 権利." He stooped for his hat.

"No need of your going, 半導体素子. She'll get home all 権利—or I'll know the 推論する／理由 why." He sent a ちらりと見ること toward his men that made them 動かす uneasily and look away.

"That isn't the point, Butch," 半導体素子 said curtly. "She doesn't want to go with them. That's 推論する／理由 enough, I should think."

Polly threw up her chin—a mannerism he knew 井戸／弁護士席. "Oh, if it comes to that," she 宣言するd, "I'll choose the least of two evils. I'll go with Sam and Flicker." And without a ちらりと見ること toward 半導体素子, she turned and walked to the door, opened it with a jerk and paused to say over her shoulder, "There's another day coming; just remember that!" and went out with that 反抗的な 上向き 攻撃する of her 長，率いる.

Sam and Flicker started to follow. Butch's 発言する／表明する overtook them in the doorway. "You two make sure that girl gits home all 権利—and watch your ペテン師, or I'll hang your hides on the 盗品故買者."

Without a word they went out. Butch rolled himself a cigarette, his 直面する thoughtful. Sime 選ぶd the water bucket from the （法廷の）裁判 beside the door and disappeared, going to the spring. Over the match 炎 as he lighted his cigarette, Butch 熟考する／考慮するd 半導体素子's 直面する 始める，決める in inscrutable 静める.

"Sharp as they make 'em, that Taylor girl," he drawled, after a puff or two. "Been out all winter scoutin' for her dad. Couldn't a jackrabbit move an ear within a mile that she wouldn't know." He drew at his cigarette, savoring the smoke. "Wish I knowed what she really was after, 負かす／撃墜する here. Trailin' you, maybe—怪しげな as hell. You don't want to swallow all she 手渡すs yuh, kid."

半導体素子 did not speak. He was thinking, maybe that accounted for Polly Taylor 存在 so の近くに when he fell on that rustler. Maybe it was her dad, or Snuffle Jones, and maybe that was why she stuck beside him, 設立する out where he （軍の）野営地，陣営d, kept in touch afterwards. Maybe she knew that ax she 選ぶd up. Hell, was there any one a fellow could 信用?

Butch sauntered to the bunk, sat 負かす／撃墜する and leaned 支援する at 緩和する against a roll of 一面に覆う／毛布s. Left his gun on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, which no 無法者 would be likely to do. 半導体素子 wondered at that, wondered too if people didn't have a wrong impression of Butch 吊りくさび.

Sime （機の）カム in, 始める，決める the sloshing bucket on the （法廷の）裁判. Butch yawned loudly. "How's the 天候, Sime?" he called in a lazy トン of 井戸／弁護士席-fed 慰安.

"Fixin' to 嵐／襲撃する agin. 勝利，勝つd's switched to the northwest. She'll be blizzardin' before mornin', I reckon." Sime dipped water into a dishpan, refilled the stove with 支持を得ようと努めるd and 始める，決める the pan on to heat.

"Better go show the kid here where to put his horses. He can unpack and throw his stuff in here. His horses'll stand in the stable to-night." Butch sat up. "No, I'll go myself." He got up, went over and 選ぶd up his gun. "Come on, 半導体素子. Might 同様に gentle 負かす／撃墜する to the fact that you're here to stay awhile."

脅し or 招待, 半導体素子 could not tell. "控訴s me," he said 簡潔に and went out ahead of Butch.

One thing was 確かな . Before he left that 水盤／入り江, he meant to know to his own satisfaction whether Butch 吊りくさび were a much maligned man, 非難するd for the 行為s of such men as Cash Farley had been, or whether he 長所d the 指名する of 無法者. At that moment 半導体素子 did not know what to think. While Butch stuck beside him, helping him put his horses in the stable, casually friendly talk lightening the 仕事, 半導体素子 watched for some hint, some 調印する that would give him a 手がかり（を与える） to his real status with Big Butch 吊りくさび. He watched in vain. 囚人 or welcome guest—to save his life, he could not tell which 指名する he might 適用する to himself.

And that was something he meant to find out.

X. — MILT MAKES HIS TALK

WITH shrieking fury of 勝利，勝つd, the powdery snow drove across the high 範囲s. Before it the cattle drifted miserably mile after mile, with 長，率いるs bent and swinging in rhythm with each plodding step they took. 追跡（する）ing 避難所, they left the （法廷の）裁判s and sought the deepest coulees and creek 底（に届く）s, where they 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd の近くに together in the bushes. The snow, 罰金 as flour packed in the hair, made hard, little ridgy drifts along their 支援するs. Standing so, while the blizzard lasted, they ate the twigs with buds all frozen, and were hungry still.

Three days that blizzard lasted, and the leanest cows died standing in the drifts that packed 確かな low places. Through other days and nights the 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd blew from out the north, packing the show 深い in every crease and hollow. By then it was April and the 早期に calves shivered on their bandy 脚s and only the toughest 生き残るd; which meant a poor calf 刈る that year, in spite of all the good 天候 to follow.

Jim Whitmore 棒 grimly out with his men to see what （死傷者）数 the 嵐／襲撃する had taken and to 裁判官 for himself what 損失 the beef rustlers had done to his 落ちる 出荷／船積みs. He saw enough to 始める，決める him glowering in his cabin at night, his 堅い old jaws clamped hard upon his 麻薬を吸う, while he meditated upon 保護の 対策—yes, and upon 報復s 同様に. Though all he could do now would not bring 支援する his 虐殺（する）d steers nor 少なくなる the 荒廃させるs of the big March 嵐／襲撃する upon his cows and calves.

He was thinking about it one Sunday forenoon—the first pleasant Sunday since the blizzard—when 疲れた／うんざりした, jingling his 刺激（する）s, walked up the path from the corral and put his 長，率いる into J.G.'s open doorway.

"Couple of riders coming up the creek," he 発表するd in his pleasant drawl. "Milt Cummings' paint pony that he rides on Sundays—and I think it's Spike Reilly with him." He paused, his 長，率いる turning for その上の 査察 of the approaching horsemen. "Yep, it's them, all 権利. I just thought I'd tell yuh, J.G., in 事例／患者 you didn't happen to be in the mood for company."

J.G. hadn't been in the mood for anything except a fight lately, and he 証明するd it now by jerking his 麻薬を吸う from his worried-looking mouth and 断言するing querulously at 疲れた／うんざりした. "And what call has any one on this ranch got to think I ain't in the mood fer any daw-goned thing that comes along?" he finished—though not so mildly as it is 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する here. "You tell Milt Cummin's I want to see him. By this and by that, there's a few questions I want to ask—"

疲れた／うんざりした, however, was gone out of 審理，公聴会, walking 急速な／放蕩な to the corral. He needn't have hurried so much. Milt Cummings 停止（させる）d only long enough to say hello to what boys were in sight and to ask where he would find their boss. He and Spike met 疲れた／うんざりした in the path and 棒 on with a curt 迎える／歓迎するing.

疲れた／うんざりした kept on to where he 設立する an audience. "Mamma! The Old Man sure is fighty to-day," he 報告（する）／憶測d, in a トン of 関心. "Damn 近づく blowed me outa my boots when I asked him was he in the mood for company. Milt's liable to be huntin' a high 盗品故買者 if he ain't careful; kinda looked like he was on the プロの／賛成のd himself about something, didn't yuh think?"

"Sure has got something on his chest," Shorty agreed. "Maybe I better go along up there and see what he wants."

疲れた／うんざりした grinned 広範囲にわたって. "Better ride your runnin' horse then. You're liable to need him."

Up at the boss's cabin, Milt Cummings was off his horse and squatted on his boot heels beside the doorway where J.G. sat sucking at his 麻薬を吸う. Beside Milt his 最高の，を越す 手渡す, Spike Reilly, leaned against the スピードを出す／記録につける 塀で囲む and built himself a cigarette with a 曖昧な 空気／公表する of detachment from the conversation.

Cigarette between the fingers of his left 手渡す, Milt 選ぶd up a 乾燥した，日照りのd-少しのd stalk and was absently 製図／抽選 meaningless patterns on the hard-trodden earth. He looked up at J.G. and the sun brought out a greenish 色合い in his gray 注目する，もくろむs.

"J.G., I've been losing a hell of a lot of cattle, the last six months," he said 突然の.

J.G. grunted, took his 麻薬を吸う from his mouth and spat out to one 味方する of the doorway. "Got it 人物／姿／数字d out how a Lazy Ladder can be worked over into a 飛行機で行くing U, Milt?"

Milt made a disclaiming gesture with the cigarette 手渡す. "You know damn 井戸／弁護士席 I ain't. I've been wondering if maybe—地雷's been butchered," he explained. "I've been wondering if maybe you've lost some that way."

"Some."

"Any idea who's been doing it?" Milt's green-gray 注目する，もくろむs swung a ちらりと見ること to Jim Whitmore's 直面する, hung there, 熱心に watchful.

"No proof, so fur." 疲れた／うんざりした would have been astonished at J.G.'s 静める and at the placid, unrevealing mask of his lined and leathery countenance.

"You know, I s'提起する／ポーズをとる, the Hobble-O's been 運ぶ／漁獲高ing out beef all winter?"

"I know that; sure. And there's やめる a few Hobble-O cattle runnin' the 範囲. I know that too." J.G. （人が）群がるd the charred タバコ 負かす／撃墜する into his 麻薬を吸う. "S'spicion ain't proof, Milt. Taylor's got a 権利 to kill his own beef and sell it any way he's a mind to."

Milt flung away the 少しのd with a quick, angry 動議. "井戸／弁護士席, by gosh, he's got no 権利 to kill 地雷 and sell it! Uh course, if you're a mind to 寄付する a carload of good beef to the 原因（となる）, that's your own 警戒／見張り. No 肌 off my nose if he beefs every critter you've got to your 指名する. But me, I ain't built that way."

J.G. took three hard, slow pulls at his 麻薬を吸う. "You got any proof, Milt, that it was them done it?"

"Proof?" Milt snorted. "Spike, have we got any proof?" ちらりと見ること and トン were ironic.

"Proof enough to hang 'em twice over," Spike 明言する／公表するd with stolid 強調 and relapsed into silence.

"This beef killin'," J.G. 観察するd, in that strangely 静かな トン that so little matched the 明言する／公表する of mind he had been in lately, "looks like spite work to me. There's been no trouble with the Hobble-O 't I know of. And daw-gone it, I always put Shep Taylor 負かす／撃墜する as a pretty straight kinda fellow."

"Foxy. If it's them hind ４半期/4分の1s you're thinkin' of, I can see through that all 権利. They work 急速な／放蕩な and they work at night mostly. 肌 out the hind ４半期/4分の1s, throw 'em on a pack horse and git to hell outa there. Only takes a few minutes to do that and they're gone. Slip them hind ４半期/4分の1s into a freight 負担 uh beef, and who the hell's goin' to know which from t'other? 前線 ４半期/4分の1s ain't 価値（がある） やめる as much, either."

He smoked, again threw out an expressive 手渡す. "It's a cinch," he summed up his 再建.

"Wel-l, mebby so. Workin' in the night like that—they must be daw-goned good 発射s to plug every critter 権利 between the 注目する，もくろむs. Don't 変化させる an インチ one way or the other, far as I've seen."

Milt shrugged. "Starlight nights, it ain't so hard to do. 位置を示す your cattle just before dark, and when you go after 'em, ride up 平易な. Most every one has got white in their 直面するs, you'll notice. Get の近くに and watch your chance. A critter'll turn and look at yuh—if you're up の近くに, it's no trick at all to 減少（する） him in his 跡をつけるs. Nothing to it. Not if a man's any 発射 at all."

"Looks reasonable," J.G. 認める. "What proof you got as to who done it, Milt?"

"井戸／弁護士席, me and Spike's been scoutin' around かなりの lately. You might say we caught 'em in the 行為／法令／行動する. 棒 負かす／撃墜する a coulee just about three minutes after they'd left. This was in 幅の広い daylight, J.G.—before dark, anyway. We come on the carcass, fresh killed, and took on after 'em. Pretty brushy on 負かす／撃墜する さらに先に, but we 追跡するd 'em to where they crossed over a little 山の尾根. It was Shep Taylor, all 権利. I'd know him far as I could see him. Snuffle was with him. They had a pack horse."

"You jumped 'em, I s'提起する／ポーズをとる?"

Milt shook his 長，率いる. "井戸／弁護士席, no, we didn't. It was a 飛行機で行くing U critter. If it had been one of 地雷—but it was off up this way, さらに先に north than Lazy Ladder 在庫／株 is liable to 範囲. No, we moseyed on home. But I'm putting you wise, J.G.—just in 事例／患者 you didn't have a line on who was doing it."

"Much 強いるd, Milt. No, I ain't had it 人物／姿／数字d out yet." J.G. looked at his 麻薬を吸う, tapped out the hot ash against the door jamb and put the 麻薬を吸う in his pocket. "The boys has been scoutin' around some themselves," he 追加するd. "設立する plenty of 調印する, but it never pointed to any particular person. Might of been most any one."

"井戸／弁護士席, I know damn good and 井戸／弁護士席 who's doing it." Milt looked at the older man measuringly. "Maybe you're willing to let 'em get away with it, J.G. Looks like it. Far as I can see, the 飛行機で行くing U hasn't turned a 手渡す to stop it." He got up, pinched out his cigarette and ground the stub under his heel. "You can 控訴 yourself, of course—"

"What you think we せねばならない do, Milt?" The mildness of his トン would have 広げるd the 注目する，もくろむs of any one of his cowboys.

"What am I goin' to do?" Milt looked 負かす／撃墜する at him with a crooked smile. "There's only one thing to do, isn't there? Turn 'em in." He hesitated. "Uh course, I hate it like the devil—on account of Shep's family. But them boys—now's the time to learn 'em not to be so damn 解放する／自由な with other folks' 在庫／株. Let the old man git away with this and there's two 罰金 無法者s comin' up. Them kids 'll be swinging a wide 宙返り飛行 themselves, three or four years from now. They're learnin' 急速な／放蕩な, them little buggers."

"Be purty daw-goned 堅い on the old lady—and the girl."

"堅い on the old lady, yes. But she'd no 商売／仕事 marryin' a damn どろぼう. The girl—井戸／弁護士席, if it wasn't for her 存在 a girl—" He looked 負かす／撃墜する at J.G. sitting humped on the doorstep, his 手渡すs unconsciously groping again for 麻薬を吸う and タバコ.

"It sure （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s me," Milt said impatiently, "how you folks over here never seemed to get wise to what's going on. You live as の近くに to the Hobble-O as I do. How come you ain't got next to 'em before now? That girl's workin' 手渡す in glove with the old man. 行為／法令／行動するs as 警戒／見張り—I know that, for a fact. But uh course, 存在 a girl, I reckon there ain't much can be done about it."

"Might string her up と一緒に her dad," J.G. 示唆するd. "Might make やめる an 反対する lesson."

製図／抽選 on his gloves, Milt 強化するd. His 注目する，もくろむs flashed a ちらりと見ること at Spike Reilly before they 残り／休憩（する）d suspiciously on J.G.'s 直面する. "Might 動かす up a hell of a stink," he grunted. "I ain't a fool, やめる. We've got a way of 扱うing rustlers in this country. It's been used before and it can be again. But that ain't 説—" He broke off with an uneasy laugh. "Hell, this thing has got me so jumpy I can't even see a joke when it's labeled. I don't feel like kidding about it. I can tell you those."

"When you 人物／姿／数字ing on havin' your necktie party, Milt?" J.G. rose, as Milt swung easily into the saddle.

"That's up to Dave Burch." Milt's トン was surly. "I might turn in and settle this thing myself, but that ain't my style. I don't go for these bad-man 策略 myself. I'm goin' to 報告（する）／憶測 my loss to Dave. I did think," he 追加するd, with sarcasm, "you might want to put in with me on it. Make a stronger 事例／患者. You 控訴 yourself, though."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'll think about it," J.G. 約束d without enthusiasm. "Daw-gone it, Shep's been a purty good neighbor though—"

Milt's laugh was a 中傷する. "Yeh, he sure has been payin' you a 罰金 compliment, J.G. He'd ruther have your beef than his own, any old time. If that's the way you like to have it, why that's your funeral." He 解除するd a gloved 手渡す, turned it in the casual gesture of 別れの（言葉，会） and trotted his horse 負かす／撃墜する to the corral, Spike Reilly に引き続いて の近くに behind.

This time Milt pulled up, grinning with acrid humor. "Your old lion has just about turned sheep on yuh, I see," he 発言／述べるd, by way of 開始 the 支配する which filled his mind. "That, or he's made some kinda dicker with the Hobble-O to 供給（する） 'em with hind ４半期/4分の1s of beef as long as the 供給（する） lasts. Damned if I can 人物／姿／数字 out which it is."

"How's that?" The rising inflection of 疲れた／うんざりした's 発言する／表明する sharpened his トン almost to a challenge. "I don't sabe you, Milt."

"Yuh don't? I s'提起する／ポーズをとる you don't know anything that's been going on around here. What you fellows been doing all winter and spring, anyway? Layin' with your 長，率いるs under the 一面に覆う／毛布s? My God, you oughta lose every hoof on the 範囲! I'll 賭事 you ain't been outa this coulee since 落ちる 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up. You don't know how the Hobble-O's been butcherin' 飛行機で行くing U beef 権利 and left—that's a cinch. Or maybe you're in cahoots—"

"平易な on that kinda talk, Milt Cummings!" Cal Emmett bristled and started to climb 負かす／撃墜する off the 盗品故買者.

"Aw, keep your shirt on, Cal." Milt salved the 声明, half laughing. "On the square, it made me so damn sore to see old J.G. 始める，決める there and suck his 麻薬を吸う like he was hearin' good news, all the while I was talkin', I've got to blow off or 破産した／（警察が）手入れする."

"Maybe you better 破産した／（警察が）手入れする," 疲れた／うんざりした 示唆するd dryly. "We've had about all the blowing off around here we can stand. What yuh know, Milt?"

"I know it looks damn funny to me, the way the Flyin' U lets itself be robbed 権利 and left and never makes a move to stop it," Milt said bluntly, 新たな展開ing the reins around the saddle horn, that his 手渡すs might be 解放する／自由な to roll another smoke. "Here I've been ridin' day and night, the last month, getting the goods on the Hobble-O. Not a day passed that I didn't see plenty of Flyin' U carcasses—and yet I never run across a one of you boys on the prowl to see who was doing the butchering. I've got all the proof I want, now—and we 棒 over to-day to kinda get together with you folks and make a clean-up." While he rolled the タバコ tightly into its little paper cylinder, he 注目する，もくろむd the boys with 尋問 contempt.

"Looks like your boss is going to 始める，決める and take it, but I'm damned if I thought you fellows would stand 支援する and let Shep Taylor or anybody else steal cattle 権利 under your noses. I'd have bet anything I got you'd be ready to wipe out that damned thievin' bunch. What I can't understand—"

"J.G's the boss around here," Shorty broke in on him. "He don't go off half-cocked, without actual proof. So far, we ain't been able to pin it on—"

"You ain't? You're a hell of a bunch, ain't yuh? Didn't take me long to pin it where it belongs. I'm going to turn 'em over to the Vigilantes. You going to 支援する my play or are yuh going to roost on a rail like a bunch of damned chickadees and let other folks do all the dirty work, きれいにする up the 範囲 for yuh?"

"No use getting snorty, Milt," 疲れた／うんざりした 抗議するd mildly. "J.G.'s collectin' 証拠. When he gets a cinch on who's doin' it, there's liable to be やめる a dust raised. But we don't go agin his orders, not for you or anybody else. Whatever else we may do, this outfit sticks together. You know that."

"Like hell!" Milt looked disgusted. "How about that Bennett rooster? He stuck—in a pig's wrist!"

"半導体素子? He had to go 支援する to Colorado. His mother left some 所有物／資産／財産 that had to be settled," 疲れた／うんざりした 知らせるd him stiffly.

"Hunh! He sure must have settled it damn quick. He's got a 職業 with Butch 吊りくさび, breakin' horses. Saw him there the other day, big as life. I thought it was damn funny he'd やめる this bunch and throw in with Big Butch. Must be the way you fellows stick together!" He snorted. "Always knew he was 無法者."

With that jibe, he slid straight in the saddle and spurred his horse into a gallop from the first jump; the way Milt usually started off. Spike 棒 after him, a sneering backward ちらりと見ること flung over his shoulder.

Dickybird and 疲れた／うんざりした 攻撃する，衝突する the ground together, glaring after Milt. "Too damn yella to stay and let me take a 割れ目 at him for that!" 激怒（する）d 疲れた／うんざりした.

"When I see that man again," Dickybird said slowly, teetering on his little feet as he watched Milt out of sight, "he'll take that 支援する or else I'll kill him." And though he said it 静かに, Cal Emmett shivered.

XI. — THE FIRST REAL CLUE

CHIP pulled open the cabin door and stood looking out, warm sunlight on his lean, tanned 直面する. Behind him sounded the chuckling laugh grown familiar in the last week.

"井戸／弁護士席, how about it, kid? Feel like tacklin' a bronc this morning?"

半導体素子 turned his 長，率いる to look at Butch. In spite of his seventy-three インチs 加える his high-heeled riding boots, his ちらりと見ること 解除するd before his brownish hazel 注目する，もくろむs met Butch's light blue ones. "No, I don't think so. Thanks all the same, but I've got a 職業 of my own, Butch."

Butch's light 注目する，もくろむs 常習的な perceptibly. "Afraid you'll git a bad 指名する, workin' for me; is that it?"

"Not on your life. If I 手配中の，お尋ね者 the 職業, I'd take it quick enough. But I've got other fish to fry, 権利 now, Butch. You know that."

Butch's fingers were busy with a cigarette. He finished it, got it going before he spoke. "Chasin' beef rustlers, hunh? 井戸／弁護士席, yuh don't have t' go far to find 'em, kid. Not if yuh ride in the 権利 direction."

"That's your theory."

"One theory's good as another, I reckon. What you 人物／姿／数字 on doin'?"

半導体素子 解除するd a foot, drew a match along the boot heel. "Oh—just start out and ride, I guess."

"You won't find nothin' that way, kid. A 弾丸, maybe."

"That," said 半導体素子, blowing out the match, "is a chance a fellow has to take."

"Goin' to drag that colt along?"

"You bet your life. Little Silver's going 権利 where I go, long as we're both able to travel." A new vibrancy was in 半導体素子's トン.

Butch laughed. "I got the 指名する of bein' a horse どろぼう, kid, but you could leave that colt here with me and he'd be dead 安全な till you come after him."

"I know that. I want him along, though. I—I like the darned little skeezicks, Butch. He's lots of company for a fellow."

"Oh, all 権利. When you get your belly 十分な of chasin' around, come 支援する. Your 職業'll be open."

Riding out of the 水盤／入り江 with his outfit, 半導体素子 wondered how Big Butch had got the 指名する of 存在 an 無法者. He certainly had been 罰金, this past week; no more 無法者 than 疲れた／うんざりした or any of the 残り／休憩（する） of them. The way he had doctored that arm of 半導体素子's—why, he wasn't half as rough as Polly Taylor had been. Butch had laughed when he took out those stitches. Said Polly must have thought she was mending a mitten when she sewed up that 削減（する）.

That 発言／述べる returned now to 半導体素子, as he 棒 out of the canyon. The idea of Polly Taylor doing anything so 国内の as mending mittens struck him as something grotesque. He tried to picture her in a ruffled dress, sitting beside a sunny window sewing. The 向こうずね of gold over her hair where the sun caught it he could see all 権利, but not Polly mending mittens or anything else. He had a much more vivid picture of her lying up above him in the 激しく揺するs somewhere, watching Butch's place over the 前線 sight of her ライフル銃／探して盗む.

That was queer too. Butch seemed to think she was up to some devilment. Thought she was helping her dad rustle beef—at least, he had hinted it. 半導体素子 tried to see Polly in that r?e, and he had to 収容する／認める that 確かな facts fitted into the picture; everything except his 深い-seated 有罪の判決 that she was honest. Still, what was she doing there so の近くに, when he had the 捨てる with that fellow under the bank? That couldn't have been her father, because 半導体素子 hadn't felt any whiskers. Might have been Snuffle Jones, though. Seemed about the same size and build, as nearly as 半導体素子 could 解任する those few dazed seconds. If it were Snuffle, that would account for Polly 存在 so の近くに. Only, he couldn't believe Polly Taylor was a どろぼう.

But his thoughts were not long with Polly Taylor. He was riding 支援する into the canyons he knew, に引き続いて a fresh theory which he had worked out in the long wakeful nights while Big Butch and his men snored raucously in their bunks. Over and over again he retraced in memory his days of fruitless searching for 手がかり（を与える）s, trying to discover just what stood out as the most noticeable feature of the 殺人，大当りs. He had passed by the one glaring fact that all the cattle had borne the 飛行機で行くing U brand; that was, of course, what brought him 負かす／撃墜する here. There must be something else . . .

One night he had 設立する the elusive thread of coincidence. Never had he noticed any horse 跡をつけるs around the kills. Now that he thought of it, that was mighty strange, because pack horses must have been used to carry away the meat. In some places, there must have been several horses used, because two hind ４半期/4分の1s would be a 負担 for any horse. And there hadn't been any 跡をつけるs. He was sure of that now, though he had been looking for horsemen and had not watched the ground very closely as he 棒.

Another thing he had decided was that all the 殺人，大当りs had been done within a 半径 of ten or twelve miles. All the 飛行機で行くing U beef, that is. Milt Cummings, stopping at the cabin a night or two ago, had told of losing a good many cattle, but they 範囲d off the other 味方する of the Hobble-O ranch and had nothing to do with the 事例／患者. It was the 飛行機で行くing U cattle, drifting deepest into the Badlands, that he was thinking of now. He meant to find out, if he could, why the butchers had kept to one part of the breaks, and what were the most feasible 追跡するs out of there with 負担d horses.

Before, he had been 妨害するd by the belief that Butch 吊りくさび was behind the 殺人，大当りs. He had watched the likely places, hoping to catch him in the 行為／法令／行動する. Now he was just as 確かな that Butch had nothing to do with it. He wasn't going to tie himself up to any 直す／買収する，八百長をするd idea again. If the Hobble-O were rustling beef, the 追跡する would have to lead to them. He'd made a damned mess of things so far, because he'd thought he knew all about it and had only to collect proof. This was going to be different. He'd look for 手がかり（を与える）s and follow them, even if they led him straight 支援する to the 飛行機で行くing U Coulee.

負かす／撃墜する in these 避難所d canyons the 空気／公表する was warm and springlike, and except on the northern slopes, where the sun did not strike, the snow was nearly gone. He couldn't 非難する the cattle for 追跡（する）ing these 避難所d 水盤／入り江s when the winter 勝利，勝つd howled across the open land, nor could he wonder why Big Butch had burrowed into his little hidden valley with his 在庫／株. Since he never kept one bunch of horses very long, Butch didn't need much 範囲, and the 場所 he had chosen was 罰金 for his 目的. Let the granny gossips talk their tongues off. They couldn't make 半導体素子 believe any of their yarns about Butch. When he cleaned up this beef rustling, maybe he'd go 支援する and take Butch up on that 申し込む／申し出 of a 職業.

But even while he told himself that, thinking he meant it, in the 支援する of his mind he was wondering what the boys were doing to-day, and what they thought of the way he had pulled out without a word. He'd bet 疲れた／うんざりした wasn't fooled a minute. Maybe they were scouting around looking for him that day he saw them. They'd know darned 井戸／弁護士席 he wasn't going to pull out and leave the country until this thing was （疑いを）晴らすd up.

Traveling 刻々と 支援する the way he had come, by noon he reached a nameless canyon 直す／買収する，八百長をするd forever in his memory by what had happened here last summer. It was さらに先に 負かす／撃墜する this same canyon where he had held up Cash Farley and his cronies, as they were coming 支援する after a few stolen horses that had broken away from the herd in a 雷雨 and were making for the ranch. It was over north of this canyon where he had fallen almost into the 武器 of the beef butcher in the 霧.

Now, in the light of his clearer understanding, this place seemed 特に important. Before, he had passed it by because he was 納得させるd Butch 吊りくさび was behind the 殺人，大当りs, but with Butch out of it, he saw the place from a new angle. 負かす／撃墜する this canyon there must be a 追跡する of some sort 主要な out toward the Larb Hills and the country beyond. If the 殺し屋s had packed meat out this way, he'd find it out, because somewhere along the 追跡する they must have left some 証拠 of their passing; and if it were there, he told himself grimly, he'd see it. He wasn't riding with his 注目する，もくろむs glued to field glasses this time.

Where he had （軍の）野営地，陣営d last summer, when he was 追跡するing the stolen horses, he stopped again and 手段d a pint of oats into each nose 捕らえる、獲得する. Just a 軽食, but it would give the horses heart for the 追跡する ahead. Even little Silver had a handful just to make him feel grown-up, though he forgot his dignity and begged for sugar when 半導体素子 took off the nose 捕らえる、獲得する and made ready to start on.

負かす／撃墜する the boxlike ravine and into the 狭くする winding gorge 半導体素子 棒, watching for 調印する. Around the clump of junipers where last summer he had waited until the three 無法者s 棒 into 範囲 of his ライフル銃／探して盗む. Beyond that point he never had been, and his 神経s tingled now as he 棒 into the 瓶／封じ込める-neck pass that looked as if it were tightly stoppered with granite just around the next turn. But a hundred horses had gone this way last summer and had never been seen again by the 飛行機で行くing U, so there must be a way out.

Horses had gone this way just before the 嵐／襲撃する, though he could not tell how many, for there were no 跡をつけるs. Yet his own three horses left plain hoofprints in the hard-packed sand that covered the fissure's 床に打ち倒す, except where 激しく揺する outcropping streaked across. An eerie ジグザグの 割れ目 in the hills it was, where the horses walked uneasily, ears 攻撃するd 今後 expectantly, 注目する，もくろむs 警報 for anything that moved.

Nothing did, save themselves. They 現れるd from that dark and 暗い／優うつな gorge into a sunny 下落する-covered flat where tufts of grass were showing green in the 避難所 of the bushes. The 追跡する might cross to the hills beyond, or it might not. 半導体素子 pulled up to ざっと目を通す this baldly open valley before he went any さらに先に and to roll himself a cigarette. It was while he was 持つ／拘留するing a match 炎上 to the タバコ that little Silver stepped aside to see what was to be had in the way of browsing, walking along the rough shoulder of the gorge through which they had come.

With fond indulgent 注目する，もくろむs, 半導体素子 watched the colt go nosing and nipping along, grace in every movement he made. He laughed when Silver 匂いをかぐd at something on the ground and 解除するd his nose high in 空気／公表する with lip turned 支援する, the picture of disgust. But when the colt 固執するd in pawing and 消すing, he stepped off マイク and went to see just what the thing was.

A piece of cowhide, 概略で 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 深く，強烈に cupped, a broken rawhide string dangling from a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of slits 近づく the outer 辛勝する／優位. "Hunh!" snorted 半導体素子 and 選ぶd it up from under little Silver's disdainful nose. "Looks like you're 価値（がある） your oats to-day, young feller." He turned the 反対する over, and 熟考する／考慮するd it. "I'd tell a man you are!" he cried and gave the colt a boyish 抱擁する. "You've sure called the turn this time. Know that?"

Never in his life had he seen such a thing, yet he knew 正確に／まさに what it was and how it had been used. It was a "boot" designed to pull over a horse's foot and muffle his 跡をつけるs. Drawn around the ankle above the hoof and tied there, it would last a long while, 半導体素子 supposed; when it wore through—井戸／弁護士席, hides were cheap and 平易な to get. It would be a simple 事柄 to fashion another.

A simple trick. He should have 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd it long ago. Perhaps he would have, if he had not been all the while looking for the riders themselves. He wondered if the thieves had worried over this boot when they 設立する the string had broken. They must do their traveling at night, not to have noticed it, and that was probably why he never had any luck finding them. Except that man in the 霧, and that struck him now as 存在 an impromptu 業績／成果 with no direct 耐えるing on the others. For one thing, the man had been alone and he had not had a pack horse with him. There had been only the one horse galloping away in the 霧, and the hoofbeats certainly had not sounded muffled. Dazed as he had been, he remembered the clink of shoes striking 激しく揺する.

This was a different 事柄. Some one had come this way with cowhide boots on his horse. He bent and 熟考する／考慮するd the ground, wondering a little if the 勝利，勝つd might not have blown that boot over against the hill. He thought not. Here in the shade a little snow still lay, and under the boot was a tiny 明らかにする 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. It had lain up against a small, scraggy 下落する bush 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 保護するd from the 勝利，勝つd. He thought it must have dropped there before the 嵐／襲撃する.

It looked, too, as though the travel had been の近くに と一緒に the hill, 長，率いるing south from the gorge. 半導体素子 would have struck out east, thinking they had gone that way. But now that he knew what to look for, he could see several faintly dimpled 不景気s in the sand between the shallow drifts; 示すs easily overlooked unless one knew their meaning.

With a light of excitement in his 注目する，もくろむs, he hurried 支援する to マイク, 機動力のある and reined in の近くに to the bold rocky bluff and 棒 warily, 長，率いるing south.

XII. — BEEF HAULIN'S OVER

AT a point where the valley 辛勝する／優位 was broken into rocky gullies and 法外な, water-worn little 山の尾根s impossible to climb, 半導体素子 pulled up to 診察する more closely the 可能性s of a 追跡する through. At first, it seemed all その上の 進歩 was 封鎖するd. Not one of those gullies was passable for a burro, much いっそう少なく a horse. The gaunt shoulder of the butte （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する upon his 権利—no possible way of getting over that, even if it would not lead him 支援する into the hills. The beef went out east; he was sure of that now, just as he was sure those hooded 跡をつけるs had come this way.

He looked 支援する, 熟考する／考慮するing the way he had come, two creases 深くするing between his straight dark eyebrows. The muffled 跡をつけるs he was trying to follow might be mostly seen with his imagination, but the imprints of his two horses and the colt were certainly plain enough. He couldn't advertise himself any better, even if he chalked his 指名する on the 激しく揺するs as he 棒. Little Silver's 跡をつけるs were a dead give-away.

That disquieting thought made him 用心深い; that, and the way マイク was 事実上の／代理, turning his 長，率いる to 星／主役にする 支援する along the way they had come. He looked again for a way 今後, and finally—because there was no other possible 出口—勧めるd マイク into a V-形態／調整d notch in the 塀で囲む beside him. Solid 激しく揺する it was, the 底（に届く） so 狭くする the horses had barely room to 始める，決める their feet. But it was a 避難所, and when he had gone a couple of hundred yards along it he slipped off, tied the colt to Jeff's pack, and ran 負かす／撃墜する the crevice to the 開始, his ライフル銃／探して盗む swinging from his 手渡す.

Silence and the long 影をつくる／尾行する of the butte upon the little valley 迎える／歓迎するd him as he peered 慎重に out, and he half turned to go 支援する, calling himself a fool for his 恐れるs. No one would be に引き続いて him. That was just a crazy notion he had got somehow. But he did not go 支援する at once. Instead, he 緊急発進するd up the north 味方する of the notch, to where he had glimpsed a little clump of half-餓死するd 下落する, and crouched there on a precariously 狭くする knob, where a bit of earth had 設立する lodgment and the bushes fought for 不十分な life.

Fifteen or twenty feet above his horses' 跡をつけるs, he had a （疑いを）晴らす sweep of the valley, though his 見解（をとる） of the 追跡する was 削減（する） off by a bulge in the bluff 塀で囲む a hundred yards away. As he settled himself to watch, a jackrabbit bounced into sight and ran for a few 棒s before he kicked himself out of 範囲 の中で the 激しく揺するs of the nearest gully.

半導体素子 threw a 爆撃する into the 議会 of his ライフル銃／探して盗む, laid the gun across a convenient 後援 of 激しく揺する and with his boot heel stamped and gouged himself a 安全な・保証する foothold just above the 下落する root. He wasn't going to take another slide just at the wrong moment if he could help it. Then he squinted along his sights and waited.

Barely had he settled himself when a rider appeared around the bulging 激しく揺する, coming ahead 慎重に with his ライフル銃／探して盗む at half 目的（とする）, looking and craning. But he wasn't looking for that jackrabbit, 半導体素子 would bet money on that. He 棒 as if he knew all about the 障壁 ahead and the broken country no horse could cross to reach the valley. He seemed all 用意が出来ている to 会合，会う some one. And as he drew nearer, another 詳細（に述べる） impressed itself upon the mind of the 選挙立会人. The horse wore boots of cowhide, hairy 味方する out, and the rider reined him の近くに against the hill, 井戸／弁護士席 to one 味方する of the 跡をつけるs clean-削減（する） there in the sand.

半導体素子's thumb drew 支援する the 大打撃を与える of his gun. His mouth pinched in at the corners, then his 長，率いる 解除するd. "Hey! Where d'you think you're going?" he called 負かす／撃墜する peremptorily, spoiling the perfect 待ち伏せ／迎撃する.

For answer, the fellow swung up his ライフル銃／探して盗む and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. The 弾丸 kicked 激しく揺する dust against 半導体素子's 直面する before it whined off into the gully. He 解雇する／砲火／射撃d again, three quick 発射s before 半導体素子 squeezed the 誘発する／引き起こす and dropped him out of the saddle.

Short and sharp as it was, 半導体素子 saw how his 手渡す was shaking when he 解除するd it to feel the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on his cheek bone where a bit of granite had struck and knocked off the 肌. No use—he never would get used to this gun-fighting. Yet a man had to fight, if he would live in this country. It was like war, he told himself, as he slid 負かす／撃墜する from his perch. The 法律 didn't reach out into the wild places. A man had to fight his 戦う／戦いs as best he could. No use 存在 squeamish about it—the man was a どろぼう or he wouldn't have those things on his horse's feet. And he was a 殺し屋, too. His 活動／戦闘s 証明するd that.

Yet 半導体素子 went reluctantly out to see what could be done for the fellow. He was so slow about it that by the time he got out of the crevice where he could see, there was neither horse nor man to be seen anywhere.

Puzzled, 怪しげな of some trick to call him out into the open, he hugged the 激しく揺する and made his way 慎重に along to the swelling shoulder of the bluff. Beside the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the man had fallen he paused to 検査／視察する the ground with quick darting ちらりと見ることs, afraid to take his 注目する，もくろむs for more than a second from the 追跡する. The scuffed imprint was there, all 権利, and a 赤みを帯びた stain on the ground. The 落ちる was no 偽の then. At the bulge he paused again, listening, then インチd his way around where he could see. And there went the fellow, loping 支援する along the way he had come, riding like a drunken man but making good 速度(を上げる）.

半導体素子 scowled and watched him go. He had been alone, then. Just a 秘かに調査する upon his movements, 追跡するing him up and anxious to get a 発射 at him. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but presently 半導体素子 shrugged and went 支援する to his horses. After all, his 商売／仕事 was to find who had been packing beef out on horses wearing cowhide boots. Let the damned 秘かに調査する go. He guessed the fellow had enough to 持つ／拘留する him for awhile. The way he was 精査するing out of sight, he wasn't liable to be 支援する.

With his mind more at 緩和する—because now he knew that he was on the 権利 跡をつける—he went on, に引き続いて the crevice, although it seemed to be 二塁打ing 支援する into the hills again. Later he saw why. In the days when the land was in the making, this high barren butte had been 分裂（する） and 新たな展開d in some titanic 激変 after it had probably considered itself 十分な grown and settled for life. The 割れ目 he followed ended suddenly in a wider ravine, which ran eastward and a little south, as 半導体素子 裁判官d by the sun and the 罰金 old watch that had been his father's. And the ravine opened out into a 深い little coulee which lay 支援する in the butte, yawning 広範囲にわたって at the same valley he had left, but さらに先に around its southern end.

Now he saw the 推論する／理由 for the 明らかに aimless detour. Within four or five miles he had come into new country 完全に 除去するd from the scene of the butcherings. The high rocky butte formed a natural 障壁 with no discernible 関係 between this coulee and the canyon he had left 支援する there. But that there was a 関係 he had just 証明するd to himself; and by all the 法律s of logic, he should find some 有形の 手がかり（を与える） to the rustlers 権利 here in this coulee. A （軍の）野営地，陣営, probably. They'd need some place to 蓄える／店 their beef until they could gather a 負担 to 運ぶ／漁獲高 out. There ought to be a wagon road out of here and a cabin, at least.

The road, when he 設立する it, was a 深く，強烈に rutted 跡をつける winding 負かす／撃墜する through the willow fringe that 国境d a small creek. "Not much travel, but what there is has been 激しい, all 権利," he decided, and followed the road 支援する up the coulee until he saw the corner of a cabin roof against sheer cliff. It reminded him of the way Big Butch's cabin was 位置を示すd; reminded him too of a man with his 支援する to the 塀で囲む, 軍隊ing his enemies to come at him in 前線. It had a 用心深い, watchful look—and yet when he tied his horse in a thicket and slipped through the willows to where he had a fair, の近くに 見解（をとる） of the place, it looked innocent enough with its corrals and haystack. Like somebody's line （軍の）野営地，陣営, he thought dubiously; or like some nester who had settled in there and gotten a fair foothold.

Smoke was rising from the stovepipe, so he slipped like an Indian through the bushes and reached the stable without once showing himself, got inside through a 支援する window and looked the place over. Two 始める，決めるs of harness with four-horse lines was his only reward there. He climbed out again and went to 調査／捜査する the big, high-boxed wagon that stood under a shed at the stable's south end. One look was all he needed there. A stained and greasy canvas, 一般的に called a tarp in the 範囲 country, lay loosely 倍のd inside; and there was grease on the inside of the end gate where beef had been slid in over it.

"And this lets the Hobble-O out of it, 悪賢い as a whistle," 半導体素子 told himself, and felt a glow of satisfaction in the thought. All he needed now was to find where they （武器などの）隠匿場所d the beef while they made up a 負担 (two or three nights' stealings, he 概算の it 概略で), and to learn who owned this （軍の）野営地，陣営. The horses were out in pasture, so he'd have to go 負かす／撃墜する there to read their brand—and if the thieves were smart, they wouldn't show their own brands on their 在庫／株, anyway.

He 追跡（する）d as 完全に as he dared for a cellar, or even a 洞穴, but without any success. So presently he made his way stealthily 支援する to his horses, 機動力のある マイク and 棒 up the 追跡する to the corral, left them there and walked on to the cabin, a fresh-made cigarette between his lips.

"And what the hell do you want?" a bony, 屈服する-legged old fellow 需要・要求するd from the suddenly opened door. He had a 二塁打-バーレル／樽d shotgun in his 手渡すs and his yellowish 注目する，もくろむs 始める，決める の近くに to a high beak of a nose gave him the look of a 強硬派 on the watch for a chicken.

半導体素子's engaging grin gave no hint of his 目的, but it was 簡潔な／要約する and left his 直面する grimly anxious. "If you're always on the 職業 like this, old-timer, I guess the boys didn't 嘘（をつく） about you, after all. Got any more 私的な place for my horses than that damned open-直面する corral?"

The old man hesitated, lowered the gun a trifle. "On the dodge, be yuh?" He looked 半導体素子 over suspiciously. "Who 'n hell sent yuh here? I don't want no trouble."

"You sure don't hate it any worse than I do," 半導体素子 宣言するd, walking unconcernedly up to the door. "I don't mind layin' out in the hills—but hell, a fellow's got to sleep いつか, and cook himself a hot meal. I certainly do admire that smoke coming out of your stovepipe, Mister." He 押し進めるd 支援する his big gray hat, sighing as he drew his fingers across his forehead.

"Where you from?"

"井戸／弁護士席, the last roof I slept under belonged to Big Butch," he said 慎重に.

"He a friend of yours?"

"井戸／弁護士席, he wished me luck when I 棒 off. That's as friendly as it's 安全な to be in this country, I guess."

The old man grunted and stepped aside, 動議ing for 半導体素子 to enter. "Which way'd you come over?" he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know, standing his gun behind the door. "Past Milt's, or through the saddle-string?"

"Saddle-string," 半導体素子 told him 敏速に, thinking that a good 指名する for the cleft he had followed through the butte. "When I think it's 安全な to 取り組む the river again, I may go by Milt's place. I only stopped for a cup of hot coffee, if you've got it handy. I was just kidding about wanting to sleep here. I'd rather den up in the hills—and besides, I wouldn't want to be here alone when you have to take another 負担 out."

The old man cocked an eyebrow at that, but he made no comment. "Coffee's bilin'," he said gruffly. "There's a kittle uh beans. Help yerself. I jest et."

"Thanks. A fellow on the go all the while never gets to cook a mess of beans." With the practised 緩和する of a man used to baching, he went over to the wash （法廷の）裁判, dipped water from the 木造の bucket standing there and washed his 直面する and 手渡すs, 徹底的に捜すing his hair by the sense of feeling, because there was no glass in sight anywhere. He'd have to be careful, he thought, while he put his little 黒人／ボイコット 徹底的に捜す in its 事例／患者 and slipped it into his pocket. That old hellion would certainly 料金d him a 負担 of buckshot if he made a slip.

In guarded silence he turned to the cupboard and got himself a plate, filled it at the stove and 注ぐd himself a cup of coffee. While he spooned in brown sugar, he 解除するd his ちらりと見ること and 熟考する／考慮するd his host with a level, untroubled look that was almost a challenge. Not so old after all, he decided. Not as old as J.G. by five years, if he were any 裁判官. It was the man's boniness and his dirty unkemptness that gave him the 外見 of age. 半導体素子 felt better about it, somehow.

"What's Butch doin' now?" the man asked 突然の, watching 半導体素子 like the 強硬派 he 似ているd.

"Going to start in gentling a bunch of broom-tails. He just sent やめる a bunch south, a couple of weeks ago." (Only two weeks? It seemed like six months since he had left the 飛行機で行くing U. But he brought his thoughts 支援する to the 現在の moment. He'd have to keep his wits about him. Couldn't let them go wool-集会 now. The old devil was watching him. Going to try and catch him up on something.)

But that was not 明らかな. The man was nodding his 長，率いる and 一打／打撃ing his dingy whiskers thoughtfully. "Who's he got workin' for 'im now?" The question was not so casual as he 手配中の，お尋ね者 it to appear. His 注目する，もくろむs spoiled that.

半導体素子 finished his drink and 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する the cup. "Sime and Sam and Flicker, in （軍の）野営地，陣営 now. The 残り／休憩（する） are on the 運動."

"Ahuh." He 徹底的に捜すd his whiskers meditatively. "Seen Milt lately?"

"Three or four days ago. Friday, I believe it was." 半導体素子 looked up from his plate. "Milt （人命などを）奪う，主張するs the Hobble-O has been getting away with his cattle."

"He-he-he!" cackled 強硬派-注目する，もくろむs. And then, "When's he aimin' to pull that there necktie party over 't the Hobble-O? By cracky, I wanta be there when that comes off." His grimy 直面する suddenly became a mask of malevolence. "I ain't fergot the time old Shep run me off'n the ranch with a ライフル銃／探して盗む. Be better'n a meal uh vittles to watch him dance on 空気／公表する." He swore horribly, with a fluent blasphemy that made 半導体素子's flesh はう.

But 神経s must be 安定した now. Like a 地滑り after the long 静める, enlightenment 急ぐd in upon him. As if the whole vile 計画／陰謀 had been carefully explained to him, he saw it all. The Hobble-O ranch and 範囲, which would 二塁打 the Lazy Ladder holdings. But Milt Cummings! Even his dislike of Milt had never held a 疑惑 of his honesty. Why, 疲れた／うんざりした had worked for Milt and liked him just 罰金. The fiendish cunning of the 陰謀（を企てる） stunned him, turned him 肉体的に sick. He 押し進めるd 支援する his plate, unable to swallow another mouthful.

Lucky for him that 強硬派-注目する，もくろむs was 吸収するd in his own poisonous gloating: "—tell 'im, 'Kick an' be damned. Shep,' I'll say, 'yuh won't never kick Skelp Turner agin—"

半導体素子's 支援する hair prickled at the roots. Skelp Turner! He'd heard the boys talk about Skelp, who had lived with the Indians and was という評判の to have white men's scalps stretched on little hoops and hoarded as トロフィーs of the 追跡（する）. Five scalps, わずかな／ほっそりした had 宣言するd, and one of them had long yellow hair . . .

He 軍隊d the loathing out of his 注目する，もくろむs, 軍隊d his 発言する／表明する to speak calmly. "But Milt'll be sending you out with another 負担 of beef pretty quick now, won't he, Skelp?"

Skelp ripped out an obscene 誓い. "If he does, and goes t' work an' strings Shep Taylor up while I'm gone, I'll 肌 'im alive!" Then he chuckled, at 緩和する again. "Shucks, what'm I fussin' about? Beef haulin's over, if this good 天候 keeps up. That's why he's aimin' to clean out the Hobble-O. Couldn't 運ぶ／漁獲高 no beef after that." He 調査するd off a chew of タバコ, looking like a wolf yanking at a 堅い tendon. "How's the Flyin' U settin'? Milt say what fer luck he's had, ringin' them in on the hangin'?"

半導体素子 始める，決める his teeth and busied himself with a cigarette. "No, he didn't say," he answered that, when he could 信用 his 発言する／表明する. "I don't believe he'd been over there yet." And to cover his ignorance of Milt's movements, "They sure have lost a lot of cattle, all 権利. Milt played foxy there. Just the hind ４半期/4分の1s skinned out—I'll bet that outfit's 権利 on the warpath."

"He-he-he!" tittered Skelp, and 半導体素子 could scarcely keep his 手渡すs off the wretch's throat. "Foxy as they make 'em. Laid his 計画（する）s quick as he heard about the Hobble-O gittin' that beef 契約. He-he-he! Now 't 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up's comin' on purty soon, he'll let the neighbors come in an' clean up for 'im." In 広大な／多数の／重要な 詳細（に述べる） he dwelt upon the 提案するd きれいにする up, until 半導体素子 rose tight-lipped, unable to 耐える more.

"What'n hell ails yuh?" Skelp broke off to 需要・要求する fretfully. "What yuh lookin' so squawmish about? Ain't yuh never saw a hangin'?"

"Your damn beans are sour," 半導体素子 grunted, 選ぶing up his hat and 長，率いるing for the door. "Come on, Skelp. We better be moving. Milt'll （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 you to it, if you don't look out."

Skelp swore and 選ぶd up his shotgun. "Thought you was on the dodge." He peered はっきりと into 半導体素子's 直面する.

"I'm not dodging Milt Cummings," 半導体素子 retorted, in a hard 発言する／表明する. "I want to know what his 計画（する）s are. If he's through peddling beef, he'll move quick." He looked at Skelp with a sardonic gleam in his 注目する，もくろむs. "Better hurry—you're liable to 行方不明になる the show!"

"Like hell! Milt 約束d me—" But he darted out ahead of 半導体素子, and he almost trotted on his way to the corral.

XIII. — SEVENTY BELOW ZERO

WHILE Skelp took long steps to his saddle horse, 火刑／賭けるd on a grassy flat just beyond the willows 支援する of the corral, 半導体素子 made 確かな 準備s of his own and waited, fighting 負かす／撃墜する an uneasy feeling that this was too 平易な not to have a slip-up later on. It seemed almost incredible that Skelp Turner's obsession for 復讐 should 略奪する him of all 警告を与える toward a stranger. He had every 推論する／理由 to be 用心深い. He was, at first. It was talking about Shep Taylor that had thrown him off guard, made him 受託する 半導体素子 as one of the ギャング（団） without any proof whatever; yet he must have lived by 疑惑 and wolfish cunning to have 生き残るd so long. Unless he was a little 割れ目d on the 支配する of Shep Taylor—半導体素子 drew a 深い, worried breath, hoping that was the 解答.

Skelp （機の）カム 屈服する-legging 支援する with a depressed little sorrel, muttering to himself an imaginary 対話 which was to take place between himself and Shep Taylor, just before the noose 強化するd around Shep's neck; rehearsing iniquitous taunts which he mouthed like savory morsels, tittering to himself while he saddled. He 機動力のある and reined into a faint 在庫／株 追跡する, wandering aimlessly toward the mouth of a canyon ばく然と 輪郭（を描く）d against the hills, as the sun swung さらに先に toward the west.

He was still mumbling into his ragged whiskers when 半導体素子, riding behind him, 解除するd his coiled rope from where he had hung it over the saddle horn, settled himself with feet 会社／堅い in the stirrups and softly shook out his 宙返り飛行.

Swift as a striking rattler he swung the 宙返り飛行 once and 発射 it straight 今後. So quick was the throw that when Skelp heard the swish of the rope the 宙返り飛行 was already 強化するing around his gaunt 団体／死体, pinning both 武器 to his 味方するs, and he was 存在 yanked off his horse backward as マイク swung off and を締めるd himself for the shock. One yelp of astonishment died in Skelp's throat when he 攻撃する，衝突する the ground.

The thud of his 落ちる 溺死するd the fainter thud of 半導体素子's boots on gravel, as he jumped off and ran 今後, piggin string between his clenched teeth. Like a man after the 選手権 prize in a roping contest, he threw himself on Skelp, grabbed his 武器 and pulled them together behind him and took his half hitches with the practised 新たな展開 and yank of a 退役軍人. The little sorrel had run a few steps and turned, 注目する，もくろむing the 訴訟／進行s with ゆらめくd nostrils and a curious look in his 患者 注目する，もくろむs.

半導体素子 pulled Skelp's gun out of its holster, caught a glimpse of something at his boot 最高の，を越す and pulled out a wicked-looking bowie knife. He felt for a second gun and 設立する it under his left armpit. "You sure don't 人物／姿／数字 on giving the other fellow a chance," he snorted and searched more carefully. A second knife he sent spinning into the 小衝突. "A rattlesnake's a gentleman と一緒に you, you old reprobate," he 観察するd contemptuously as he stood up.

突然の he leaned and slapped a 特に vile epithet 支援する into Skelp's yellowed teeth. "I've listened to all that 肉親，親類d of talk I'm going to," he grated and gagged Skelp with his own dirty neckerchief. "I oughta kill you as I would a snake, but I won't. I'll leave that for Shep Taylor. Get up, damn yuh!"

Tied though he was, Skelp fought savagely with his feet, kicking with amazing 軍隊 and dexterity, throwing himself about until he seemed to have the 脚s of a centipede; until 半導体素子 rapped him と一緒に the 長，率いる with the バーレル／樽 of his gun and sent him limp as a 発射 coyote. その結果 he 負担d him の上に the little sorrel, tied his feet into the stirrups, roped him to the saddle so he couldn't 落ちる off, led the sorrel 支援する and tied him to Jeff's pack and stood 調査するing his handiwork while he rolled himself a smoke.

His breath （機の）カム panting, but it was more 怒り／怒る than exhaustion that 始める，決める him trembling. He could scarcely get the タバコ into its tiny paper 気圧の谷, after spoiling three papers by 涙／ほころびing off too wide a （土地などの）細長い一片. He felt as though he had just 逮捕（する）d alive some loathsome monster whose breath 毒（薬）d the 空気／公表する around him, and he could scarcely credit the luck he seemed to have had. The malignant glare which Skelp 焦点（を合わせる）d upon him gave him the uneasy sense that this was all too 平易な and that he would presently find that he had walked straight into a 罠（にかける） 始める，決める for him.

But that was 神経s, and he couldn't afford to get jumpy now, when his 職業 was only half done. He 軍隊d himself to smoke that cigarette as calmly as if he hadn't a worry in the world, and he even walked over and 申し込む／申し出d a lump of sugar to little Silver and petted and talked to him a minute. It 安定したd him to feel the colt's satiny muzzle in his palm, his lip 捜し出すing daintily for the last 甘い 穀物; その上に, it pleased him to show Skelp that catching him wasn't anything to get excited about. Still, he couldn't afford to waste too much time, either. It was 井戸／弁護士席 past the middle of the afternoon already and there was no telling what lay before him.

He was thrusting his toe into the stirrup when hoofbeats sounded やめる の近くに behind him, coming at a trot 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する from the corral. He had just time to snatch his ライフル銃／探して盗む from its scabbard on the saddle and duck behind a 玉石 beside the 追跡する when a rider's hat 栄冠を与える appeared above the bushes. Only one, however. 半導体素子 swung up his ライフル銃／探して盗む and stepped out into sight again just as Polly Taylor 棒 up.

She seemed to しっかり掴む the 状況／情勢 at a ちらりと見ること. "井戸／弁護士席, forever more!" she exclaimed. "Now what have you been doing?"

"井戸／弁護士席, what does it look like?" Chagrin roughened 半導体素子's 発言する／表明する.

"Looks to me as if you were liable to need some help if you keep on traveling in this direction," Polly retorted briskly. "Why don't you turn and 長，率いる the other way—支援する to the 飛行機で行くing U?" She looked at Skelp. "That outfit will know how to 扱う him."

Here she was, trying to 干渉する again in his 商売／仕事. 半導体素子 put up his ライフル銃／探して盗む and 機動力のある. "You'd better go on home," he told her, and 即時に thought of the man he had turned 支援する with a 弾丸 in him somewhere. "Did you 会合，会う any one on the way over? I suppose you 追跡するd me over here." His トン was resentful.

"I didn't 会合，会う any one and I certainly did 追跡する you. You left a spoor like a herd of elephants, so I can't feel swell-長，率いるd over it. How'd you manage to get the best of Skelp? He's about the slimiest creature the good Lord ever made—if He did make him. I suppose he's one of the beef rustlers. What are you going to do now, 半導体素子?"

For answer 半導体素子 単に 解除するd his shoulders in the gesture calculated to 始める，決める presumptuous persons in their places.

It got nothing but a ladylike 匂いをかぐ from Polly. "Still seventy below 無, I see," she 観察するd calmly. "All 権利, if that's the way you feel. But just remember I'm more 深く，強烈に 関心d in this 商売／仕事 than you are. My father's life is 価値（がある） a lot more than your precious pride. So 凍結する up and 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, for all I care. I'm going along."

She went. There was no stopping her. She 棒 behind little Silver, bringing up the 後部 and keeping a watchful 注目する，もくろむ on Skelp Turner, her ライフル銃／探して盗む laid across the saddle in 前線 of her. And 半導体素子, conscious of her watchful presence behind him, told himself that he wished to the Lord she'd stay home and mind her own 商売／仕事, and all the while knew in his heart that he was glad she was there. There wouldn't be any one slipping up behind him, maybe 狙撃 him in the 支援する, while she was on guard.

When the roofs of the Lazy Ladder buildings showed 黒人／ボイコット against the setting sun, a hay corral with two old stacks just ahead, his manner was almost gentle when he swung マイク around and 棒 支援する to her.

"I'm going to leave you here behind these haystacks with Skelp," he said. "Keep out of sight—but if you hear 狙撃, make 跡をつけるs out of here."

"I understand," she answered meekly.

"Whatever happens, don't you go mixing into any trouble. You sabe?"

"Of course." But she didn't look at him when she said it.

"Skelp's tied for keeps. He can't do a thing. You'll be all 権利 here." He was uneasy, hating to leave her. He didn't know what she might take it into her 長，率いる to do. "Don't you take any crazy idea of helping—"

"Why, do you think you may need help?" Her 注目する，もくろむs turned questioningly upon him.

"No. If I do, it wouldn't do any good. You watch Skelp and the horses for me." He hesitated, gave her a shy, resentful look. "You'll help me a lot 権利 here."

"You—be careful, won't—"

He had touched マイク with the 刺激（する）s and was gone, loping up the rutted meadow road, a last yellow sun ray 注ぐing 負かす／撃墜する upon him as the sun slipped behind a jagged pinnacle just beyond the ranch. Then he 棒 into 影をつくる／尾行する and disappeared around a turn.

It would be madness to 試みる／企てる to reach the place by stealth; 半導体素子 knew better than to try it. He 棒 up at a leisurely fox trot and stopped at the corral gate. Three saddle horses stood inside, but there were no saddles anywhere around. No one あられ／賞賛するd him, no door opened anywhere.

He 棒 on to the house, where lazy smoke drifted up from the chimney. Still no one appeared, so he dismounted and knocked on the door. Quick steps inside, a pause, and then, "Who is it?" a young 発言する／表明する 需要・要求するd.

半導体素子 winced a little. A few months ago he had thought that 発言する／表明する the sweetest he had ever heard. Julie Lang—Mrs. Milt Cummings now. His shoulders squared as his chin went up.

"半導体素子 Bennett, Mrs. Cummings. Is your husband at home?"

Before he had finished speaking, the door was wide open and Julie stood there, blue 注目する，もくろむs wide as she looked at him. "Oh! I—I never dreamed it was you! C-come in, stranger." She smiled when she called him that, but 半導体素子 did not smile 支援する.

"I can't stop," he told her brusquely. "I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see Milt."

"Milt—oh, don't you know what horrible—港／避難所't you heard?"

He 星／主役にするd at her. "You mean the Hobble-O?" It was a 発射 in the dark, but it 攻撃する，衝突する the 示す.

Julie shivered. "Milt and the boys went to 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up the Cow Island bunch. They left just a little bit ago. Oh, I think it's horrible that such things have to happen. But, of course, you can't let folks just go on stealing 権利 and left—" Her starry blue 注目する，もくろむs 解除するd to 半導体素子's 直面する. He looked 負かす／撃墜する into them but they could not 始める，決める his pulse leaping now. They could do nothing whatever to him except show him that they were just shiny blue 注目する，もくろむs such as a Christmas doll in a 蓄える／店 window might own.

His thoughts raced after Milt and his 乗組員, turned to the Hobble-O, to the 追跡する Milt would follow. He was counting hours and minutes, trying to guess how long they would stop in Barr Lang's saloon, drinking whisky to 強化する their courage. Two seconds, maybe, of silence—but 半導体素子's thoughts had covered the whole gruesome 支配する during the 簡潔な／要約する pause.

"How long since they left?"

"Oh, I don't know—fifteen minutes, maybe. If you don't catch them, you'll find them at Uncle Barr's place, I guess. Milt said you boys were all 始める，決める on it, when I tried to make him give it up and just run them out of the country or something. But he said the 飛行機で行くing U wouldn't stand for that, because you've lost more cattle than he has, even. Have you really, 半導体素子?"

"We lost a plenty. 井戸／弁護士席, thanks, Jul—Mrs. Cummings. I'll have to be going."

"I think it's awful! But Milt 簡単に can't let it go on any longer—"

半導体素子 left her talking there in the doorway. The swift （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of マイク's hoofs must have 警告するd Polly, for she was halfway from the stacks to 会合，会う him, her ライフル銃／探して盗む in her 手渡すs ready for 戦う／戦い. She looked past 半導体素子, saw he was not followed, and her 直面する went so white all her freckles stood out with startling distinctness.

"What is it? Have they gone to get Dad?"

半導体素子 gave her a quick ちらりと見ること. It was no time for lying. "Gone to 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up the Cow Island Vigilantes. You better stay here with Julie. I'll （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 them to the ranch—we'll stand 'em off, all 権利. We'll be ready for them, Polly. Don't you worry. You stay here."

"Like hell," swore Polly, and wheeled Pathfinder in the 追跡する and raced off up the road. Before 半導体素子 could stop her, she was 解除するing a dust 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する along the road home. Even while he 星／主役にするd she whipped around a point of 激しく揺するs and was gone like a 脅すd antelope.

"Little fool!" 半導体素子 ground out between his teeth. But a warm light sprang into his 注目する，もくろむs and his 血 flowed a little faster.

XIV. — PRISONER'S LOOSE

SHEP TAYLOR walked to the fireplace, spat into the 炎上s and kicked a juniper root in against its mate. He turned and looked at 半導体素子.

"We could stand off a 連隊 uh 兵士s in here," he said, recurring to an argument just ended. "When I built this house outa 激しく揺する, I calc'lated she'd be solid, and she is. Burnt my own lime for the chinkin', had good clean sand 権利 負かす／撃墜する there by the crick for 迫撃砲, and a querry uh 激しく揺する 権利 と一緒に uh me. Me and Snuffle done a good 職業. Built her up high enough for a 議会 to 持つ／拘留する the raft uh kids we're raisin'. They'll have to 燃やす the roof off the damn place—and even then I don't see how they're goin' to git at us."

He canted a look at his wife, turned and spat again into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "Maw, you hush your bawlin'. You know damn 井戸／弁護士席 you'll be givin' that young one the colic, if you go workin' yourself up." And he 追加するd for 慰安, "I ain't in a mite of danger."

"Oh, I ain't worryin' about you," Maw retorted with a 匂いをかぐ. "I'm worried to death about Polly. Mr. Bennett says she started for home ahead of him and she ain't showed up yet. If any of them hellhounds have got 持つ／拘留する of her, there's no tellin' what they'll do."

"I don't see how they could get her," 半導体素子 told her, though he had said it before. "I followed 権利 along as 急速な／放蕩な as I could with my outfit and there was no 調印する of any one on the 追跡する. I believe she must have turned off somewhere to do a little scouting on the way." He got up restlessly, 選ぶing up hat and short sour-dough coat from a 議長，司会を務める.

"I'm going to scout around some myself," he answered Shep's 問い合わせing look. "I hate to stay penned up inside, I don't care how 安全な it is. If they show up, there'll be 狙撃. That will give you notice they're here." He looked at Mrs. Taylor. "I don't think this is going to 量 to anything at all; when they find out we're 推定する／予想するing them, they'll 支援する off."

"If you see Polly, you send her 権利 in here to me," she told him. "Harve and Ernie, you come 権利 支援する in here and 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する!" She strode toward the doorway into the kitchen, a year-old baby riding astride her bony hip. "Pa, make them young ones stay inside!"

Shep 転換d his cud of タバコ and spat juice あわてて. "Ernest, you go and 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する over there," he 厳しく 命令（する）d the younger, a freckled boy of eight or nine. "Here, Harve, you take this shotgun of old Skelp Turner's, if you want to go out and fight. You can't 攻撃する，衝突する nothin' in the dark with that ライフル銃／探して盗む."

"Aw, I c'n shoot the 法案 off'n a musketeer with this gun, Pa! It ain't very dark, anyway."

"You do as I tell yuh! Here's the 爆撃するs 半導体素子 took off'n Skelp. You hide in them 激しく揺するs out there by the woodpile and fill their hides with buckshot if they come to the house. You'll have to fight your way, if you live in this country, and you might just 同様に start in now as any time."

"Put on your overshoes, Harvey, and wear your mittens till you see 'em comin'," his mother admonished him. "You'll likely have やめる a while to wait. They'll hang around Barr Lang's drinkin' and screwin' their courage up till all hours of the night, most likely. Button up your coat good and tie that scarf up around your neck."

"I don't want to fight lynchers with no shotgun," Harvey 不平（をいう）d. "Gosh, you'd think they was chickadees!"

半導体素子 grinned in spite of himself. "Skelp Turner didn't carry a shotgun for chickadees, kid. You see the length of that バーレル／樽? And heft one of those 爆撃するs. That's a young 大砲 you've got there."

"Anyway," Harve's mother settled the 事柄 突然に, "I may want to use your ライフル銃／探して盗む myself, if the baby ain't too fretful. You be a good boy, Harvey, and do as your father tells you."

A strange family, 半導体素子 thought, as they slipped out of the 支援する door. With such a mother Polly was explained. 開拓する 在庫／株; he did not need to be told that. Probably Shep and his wife had stood at （法などの）抜け穴s and defended their cabin from Indians not so many years ago. The big-注目する，もくろむd solemnity of the three little こどもs sitting in a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 on a （法廷の）裁判 beside the fireplace remained long in his memory.

That lean dark woman hushing her baby and crying slow 涙／ほころびs over Polly's unaccountable absence one moment, and calmly planning to use a ライフル銃／探して盗む on the 推定する／予想するd lynching party the next, stirred him with an 半端物 sympathy. Unaccountably he wondered if Abraham Lincoln's mother was like that. And old Shep warming his 支援する and spitting into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃—but with his ライフル銃／探して盗む lying handy on the mantle and a 十分な belt of 弾薬／武器 buckled around his middle, the scarred butt of a forty-five drooping over its holster—would be a hard proposition to 取り組む.

Snuffle Jones, big and swarthy and with an habitual 匂いをかぐ, waited in the kitchen, where he would have a （疑いを）晴らす 見解（をとる） of the stable and corrals. 欠如（する）ing the element of surprise, Milt Cummings and his bunch would have their work 削減（する） out for them, 半導体素子 thought. Only Polly was 欠如（する）ing to 完全にする the picture of competent defence.

He wished he knew where Polly was. 説 she must be off scouting around was 単に an 試みる／企てる to 緩和する her mother's worry. Polly knew where Milt and his men had gone and she knew why. She wasn't crazy enough to think she could go to Cow Island and 説得する them to give up their 計画（する）, and there was no other possible 推論する／理由 for going there. And there was nothing to be 設立する out by riding. Something must have happened to her or she would have been home long before now, for he had traveled more slowly with Jeff and the colt—he would not have hung 支援する for the 慰安 of Skelp Turner!—and he had been here about an hour; more, he guessed by the 星／主役にするs. Darn the girl! If she had gone to Cow Island, the whole bunch would know the Hobble-O 推定する／予想するd them. No telling what they'd do then.

From the 激しく揺するs by the woodpile Harvey's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム to him. "Gee whiz, how long have we got to wait?"

"No telling, Harve." 半導体素子 had made a 小旅行する of the yard and corrals just to familiarize himself with the place, and had swung 支援する 近づく the house. "They might be along any time now or maybe not for two hours."

"Will they come a-whoopin' and a-yellin', or will they kinda こそこそ動く up on us?"

"That depends on how much they've been drinking, I guess."

"Gee, I wisht they'd hurry up and come," the boy complained. "It's darned 冷淡な, layin' here on the watch."

"You could go in and get warm," 半導体素子 示唆するd. "I'm going to prowl 負かす／撃墜する the road a ways. You'll hear a 発射 if they show up."

Without waiting to see what the boy did, he walked on, 負かす／撃墜する past the 激しく揺する storehouse where Taylor had put Skelp to wait until they decided what to do with him. 半導体素子 停止（させる）d there, half tempted to go in and take a look at the 囚人. But he would have to strike a match to see anything, and he thought it would be just 同様に not to show a light outside the house just then. Anyway, it wasn't necessary to look. Skelp was tied and the gag was in his mouth, so he couldn't call for help. Yes, and the door was padlocked, 半導体素子 remembered now, and old Shep had the 重要な in his pocket; if he wasn't so edgy, he'd have remembered that. The old devil was 安全な enough.

He went on slowly, not wanting to get too far from the house, yet too restless to remain in one 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. In the （疑いを）晴らす starlight the coulee 塀で囲む showed ばく然と, without 影をつくる／尾行するs. They'd come by the road, he told himself again. The creek had cutbanks and its windings （人が）群がるd the road against the west 塀で囲む of the coulee. They wouldn't want to 取り組む crossing the creek at night, even if it were possible. They wouldn't see any 推論する／理由 for it, if Polly had stayed away from Cow Island and kept her mouth shut. They'd just ride up 静かに, maybe two or three—Milt Cummings probably—with some yarn that would bring Snuffle and old Shep outside, where they could 得る，とらえる them, while the main （人が）群がる waited 負かす／撃墜する here somewhere...

It happened so suddenly he did not know what 攻撃する，衝突する him. He was passing a 玉石 lying の近くに to the road, where it dipped 負かす／撃墜する into a little hollow, and something landed on his 長，率いる and shoulders, 投げつけるing him to the ground. 手渡すs clawed for his throat and a 発言する／表明する snarled like some wild animal fighting and clawing. As he dropped his ライフル銃／探して盗む and threw up his 手渡すs to defend himself, one 手渡す 小衝突d against whiskers and clamped 負かす／撃墜する upon a handful.

So he knew it was Skelp. He could tell by the snarling whine in the 発言する／表明する, by the whiskers and by the terrible strength in those fingers.

半導体素子 clung and 新たな展開d, brought up his other 手渡す and 設立する Skelp's throat. They rolled together on the frozen ground and the 星／主役にするs 半導体素子 saw were red as 血. The （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing of a thousand 派手に宣伝するs was in his ears. Skelp's 脚s clamped around his so tight he could not move. The world was bursting like a ロケット／急騰する, but he would not let go. His 拷問d brain told him to 圧力（をかける） harder—hard as Skelp was 圧力（をかける）ing. Skelp had to breathe too. Skelp couldn't live without 空気／公表する in his 肺s—Skelp was seeing 星／主役にするs—if he could only dig his thumbs a little deeper—削減（する） off his 勝利，勝つd...

He couldn't. He had reached his 限界. It wasn't 価値（がある） while—let Skelp go...

The 空気／公表する 急ぐing into his 餓死するd 肺s strangled 半導体素子. He gasped, groaned, 解除するd his 激しい 武器 and tried to 押し進める off the dead 負わせる that held him 負かす／撃墜する. He blinked and saw the 星／主役にするs far off in their firmament, and they were no longer red as 血 but yellow and crisply twinkling. So he had choked Skelp 負かす／撃墜する. He had beaten him to it. And with that thought, he rolled out from under and sat up.

"D' yuh s'提起する／ポーズをとる I killed 'im?" Harvey asked in a sibilant whisper. "Gosh, 半導体素子, he was chokin' the daylights outa yuh! I couldn't make out which was which, for a minute. An' then, when I did, I sure slammed 'im. Bent this old shotgun バーレル／樽 二塁打, I bet!"

半導体素子 got to his feet, stood there swaying groggily. "Good for you, kid. You sure got here in time." He stooped to 診察する the limp 人物／姿／数字 at his feet.

"Got here? Hell, I was here!" Harvey snorted. "I was 権利 behind yuh. I seen him jump on yuh."

"Get—get a rope." 半導体素子 was rubbing his neck where Skelp's fingers had bruised it. "I've got to tie him."

The boy hesitated. "Say, if he ain't dead yet, why don't you shoot him? Pa told Snuffle that's what you'd oughta done in the first place, 'stead of bringin' him here, like you done. He's bad 薬／医学. Go on, 半導体素子."

半導体素子 選ぶd up his ライフル銃／探して盗む and stood leaning on it, while he 星／主役にするd at Harvey. "You don't know what you're talking about. I don't kill men that can't fight 支援する. You march and get that rope."

"I bet you'll wisht you killed him before you're through," Harvey prophesied grimly, as he started off. "Pa was sorry he didn't last 落ちる, stid of just runnin' him off'n the ranch. Skelp was after Polly, tryin' to make her marry him—and he's lousy and keeps white men's skelps hangin' up on the 塀で囲む."

"Don't stand there gabbing. Hurry up."

Left alone, 半導体素子 gave Skelp an investigative poke with his boot. The man was limp, inert—dead so far as movement went. Perhaps two knocks on the 長，率いる within a few hours of one another had been more than even Skelp could stand. Still, a man who could はう out of those ropes and escape from a 石／投石する building locked as that storehouse was would take more 殺人，大当り than that. His heart was （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 公正に／かなり 堅固に, a minute ago; he'd come out of it all 権利.

But there was no 調印する of life, no gasp of returning consciousness. 半導体素子 leaned against the bank, the 玉石 at his 支援する, and proceeded to roll himself a smoke. Soon as Skelp （機の）カム to, he'd march him up to the house and let the folks watch him. Pity you couldn't kill a skunk like him and think no more about it. It certainly would save a lot of trouble.

負かす／撃墜する the coulee there was no sound save the whisper of a keen little 微風 that rose in faint gusts and died again. He hadn't really 推定する／予想するd the Vigilantes to come for some time yet. About midnight was the time they usually got in their work, によれば all he'd heard of them. You couldn't tell, though. It wouldn't do to bank on that.

He smoked half his cigarette before he knelt again to 検査／視察する his 捕虜. Still dead to the world. That kid sure must 攻撃する，衝突する hard. What was keeping the little devil, anyway? He could have gathered all the rope on the ranch in the time he had been gone. 半導体素子 walked a few steps up the road, peering through the starlight. A 罰金 直す／買収する，八百長をする he'd be in, if that lynching party showed up before he had Skelp tied up again!

That thought turned him 支援する to listen for hoofbeats 負かす／撃墜する the coulee. He thought he heard a slight scuffing of gravel 近づく the 玉石, but it might have been the 微風; though he hurried a little, in 事例／患者 Skelp was beginning to show 調印するs of life. He did not hurry 急速な／放蕩な enough. When he had taken the dozen steps to the place where he had left Skelp, the road was empty.

For a few seconds 半導体素子 stood motionless, 緊張するing his ears to hear some sound. It was as silent there as though no other human 存在 had been within a mile of the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Instinctively he moved 支援する away from the 玉石, searching each hiding place with his 注目する，もくろむs as he slowly 退却／保養地d, walking backwards up the road with his six-shooter out, ready to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at any moving thing he saw.

Luckily he had taken his ライフル銃／探して盗む with him when he took those few steps away from the 玉石, looking for Harvey. Had he left it leaning against the 激しく揺する where he placed it while he made a cigarette, Skelp would have been 武装した. As it was, he was by no means helpless, as 半導体素子's bruised and aching throat attested. He had the strength of two men and the swiftness of a weasel; a dangerous beast in the dark, likely to spring out from hiding without 警告.

Harvey （機の）カム tardily, 追跡するing a loose coil of rope. "I sure had to 追跡（する）," he explained. "There wasn't nothin' but lass ropes and what's on the halters, and I'd git a lickin' if I glommed them. There wasn't nothin' but Maw's clothesline, and I had a dickens of a time untying it. I didn't dast to 削減（する） it—Maw'd be awful mad."

半導体素子 sent him 支援する to his 駅／配置する by the woodpile. For himself, he decided that the 激しく揺する storehouse would be as good a place as any. He would have a 塀で囲む at his 支援する, and he could slip around it and cover the corrals and stable 同様に as the road and house yard. With Skelp loose, he had a 二塁打 推論する／理由 for sticking の近くに to the trouble 中心. No telling what Skelp would take a notion to do now. Something devilish, 半導体素子 was willing to bet on that.

XV. — THE FLYING U TO THE RESCUE

BY the slow march of the 星／主役にするs 総計費 it was nearly midnight. Two hours or so ago 半導体素子 had heard the faint 激突する of the kitchen door and guessed that Harvey had tired of guard 義務 and gone in. Soon after that the lights in kitchen and living room went out. Lamplight shone 簡潔に from the upstairs window and was 消滅させるd. 明らかに the Taylor family was tucked in for the night. Only 半導体素子 knew better than that.

And still no Polly. From his 地位，任命する beside the storehouse, 半導体素子 watched the road, looking for the girl. In spite of himself, he forgot the Vigilantes for long minutes at a time and 緊張するd his 注目する，もくろむs through the 不明瞭, hoping to see that わずかな／ほっそりした little rider on the chunky brown horse come up the 追跡する. Between the slow gusts of 勝利，勝つd 押し進めるing 負かす／撃墜する over the coulee 縁 he listened for the 静かな hoofbeats of one horse.

So 吸収するd was he in his worried watching that a 事情に応じて変わる 影をつくる／尾行する disappearing into the blacker shade of the stable failed just at first to 登録（する） in his mind. It looked like a dog, he thought indifferently—and then he remembered that the Taylors had no dogs.

With long noiseless strides he 長，率いるd for the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, which brought him to the far end of the long low stable. There a door 開始 out of a small corral stood open; a door which he remembered was の近くにd when he left his horses inside. In the corral Skelp Turner's horse moved uneasily, 長，率いる up and 直面するing the doorway. Starlight was 反映するd from his 注目する，もくろむs which glowed in the half 不明瞭.

Beside the door 半導体素子 stopped and listened. He heard a stealthy rustle in the hay, heard a horse's 残余 thud against a 立ち往生させる and little Silver's distrustful snort. Some one was inside, no 疑問 of that. With a sudden impulse he bent and laid his ライフル銃／探して盗む carefully on the ground の近くに up against the stable 塀で囲む, drew his six-shooter and, still stooping, slipped inside. Silver he knew was in the 立ち往生させる next the end, a 政治家 盗品故買者ing him in; whoever was 負かす／撃墜する at that end couldn't see the doorway very 井戸／弁護士席.

Standing in the blackness beside the door, he heard the 簡潔な／要約する scratching sound of a match. A small yellow glow followed, then the faint crackle of 燃やすing hay. There was a 脅すd trampling, the 割れ目 of a board as the colt 肺d against the 塀で囲む, and the hated snarl of Skelp Turner's vicious トンs.

"Roast now,—damn yuh! I wish t' hell I had yer owner tied in here with yuh, where you could all fry together!" There followed the clatter of a fork against the boards as Skelp snatched it up. "How'd yuh like a taste uh pitchfork, hunh?"

The colt's agonized leap against the manger brought a cackle of glee from his tormentor. In the light of the small pile of 燃やすing hay 半導体素子 saw it all as he 急ぐd 今後.

"You 減少（する） that fork!" he 雷鳴d, and leveled his gun.

Skelp whirled, the three-pronged hay fork 解除するd like a lance. "You, ay?" The wolfish grin as his lips drew 支援する from yellowed teeth made his 直面する 不十分な human. "I'll fork your 肝臓 into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃!" he snarled. "I'll roast yuh like a ネズミ in a haymow!" Animal courage of a sort he 所有するd, for he 肺d straight at 半導体素子 in spite of the gun that roared almost in his 直面する as he sprang.

The 衝撃 of the 弾丸 threw him backward across the 炎. 半導体素子 dragged him writhing out of the 炎上s and left him lying there, gasping foul 脅しs and 悪口を言う／悪態s while he himself stamped out the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

With the light of a match he was standing tight-lipped beside the colt, 診察するing the 負傷させるs in his sleek 残余 where three trickles of 血 ran 負かす／撃墜する, when suddenly the 静かな night outside became clamorous with the roar of Harvey's shotgun and the instant reply of two ライフル銃／探して盗むs.

With a sidewise 捨てる of his foot he made sure that no smoldering 誘発するs of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 were left and started for the door. His foot struck against Skelp Turner, as limp and 静かな now as he had been once before that night. 半導体素子 grunted an 誓い, groped in the dark for a moment, then 選ぶd him up and carried him outside the stable, where he 捨てるd him 無作法に and の近くにd the door. 血 was high up on the man's chest and there was lots of it by the soggy feel of his 着せる／賦与するs, but 半導体素子 had neither the time nor the mood now to see whether Skelp was dead or alive. Lest he 生き返らせる to do その上の 害（を与える）, 半導体素子 snatched Skelp's rope off his saddle there on the ground and trussed him あわてて before dragging him over by the corral 盗品故買者. It seemed 残虐な—but he felt 残虐な when he thought of little Silver.

That done, he slipped over to the storehouse, keeping the building between himself and the house yard. After that first burst of 狙撃, 静かな had fallen, and he was afraid the 攻撃者s were scattering. He did not want to run into them 突然に—and so he nearly did that very thing. For just as he was about to ooze around the corner of the building, a man spoke within four feet of him.

"I wisht I knew who in hell put 'em wise!"

"Somebody sure did. That's a cinch. Wonder what—"

The crunch of footsteps and then Milt Cummings' 用心深い トンs. "They've got the bulge on us, boys. Somebody blabbed, looks like." He swore with fluent viciousness.

"井戸／弁護士席," another spoke impatiently, "what yuh go'na do, Milt? 支援する off and let 'em have the laugh?"

"Not on your life. They've got two men a'ready." He swore again, thickly, as if he had been drinking. "That sounded like Skelp Turner's shotgun. If I thought that old — had 二塁打-crossed me—"

"Yeah, but what you go'na do? Chew the rag till sun-up?"

"Aw, keep your shirt on, can't yuh? We're leavin' 'em think we're 脅すd off fer awhile. You two boys mosey 負かす／撃墜する there in the field and touch a match to them haystacks. Make all the noise you can; might 選ぶ up a couple of the boys and take 'em along. If that don't bring them two — outa their 穴を開けるs, we'll 燃やす the whole damn' 作品. If it wasn't for the women and kids, I'd do it anyway—"

"Yuh needn't git chicken-hearted over them women, Milt. That old 戦う／戦い-ax can sure take care of herself, and as for the little hell-cat of a Polly, I'd like nothin' better than to take her 負かす／撃墜する a peg or two m'self. She—"

"You get goin' and 解雇する／砲火／射撃 them haystacks," Milt 削減（する） him off.

"Not much, you don't!" cried 半導体素子, stepping around into sight. "Put up your 手渡すs—empty!"

It was a mad thing to do, with so many others within call, but he was beyond 手段ing chances. They heard the click of his gun and their 手渡すs went up as they whirled to 直面する him. In the 薄暗い light they 星／主役にするd at him in silence, not knowing just how many of his friends might be just around the corner.

半導体素子 thought of bluffing, but gave up the idea. Once he had bluffed and 逮捕（する）d three men. But this was different. He couldn't make it work again like that. But he had to do something at once. Others might come, or one of the three might make a break, and if he 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a 発射 it would certainly raise hell. Let them once see he was alone...

"Walk straight up toward the house," he said curtly, "and keep your 手渡すs up." And when they hung 支援する, "Don't think I won't shoot—"

"It's that damned Bennett kid!" Milt Cummings said 激しく. "He ain't with the 飛行機で行くing U, he's on his own. Throwed in with the rustlers." And suddenly he shouted, "This way, boys!" and threw himself to one 味方する, 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing from his hip as his 手渡す swept downward.

"Take it, then," 半導体素子 muttered through his teeth, as he sent a 発射 at Milt, 支援 toward the corner.

Milt 解雇する／砲火／射撃d again, 悪口を言う／悪態ing 半導体素子. From the house vague forms （機の）カム running, 狙撃 at 無作為の. One of the men with Milt gave a yell and 崩壊（する）d against the 激しく揺する 塀で囲む. A 弾丸 twitched 半導体素子's hat as he ducked out of sight. From the woodpile the shotgun bellowed and a man running across the yard fell headlong, 緊急発進するd to his 膝s and sprawled again.

On his toes, 半導体素子 raced around the little building, 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the third corner and ran 長，率いる-on into a man who grunted and reached out to 得る，とらえる him. 半導体素子 swung his foot in a terrific kick, 目的（とする）d a blow with his gun and heard the man grunt again, his 武器 jerking up, weakly clawing at the 空気／公表する. He went 負かす／撃墜する and 半導体素子 turned the corner.

No one was there, but he heard steps behind him and raced for a hayrack, sitting on four 激しく揺するs not far away. A 弾丸 whined past his 長，率いる as he ran and there was the crisp 動揺させる of buckshot 落ちるing short of him on the frozen ground when the shotgun roared again. Evidently Harvey had lost all 跡をつける of him and mistook him for a lyncher.

There was no way to show Harve who was fighting from the hayrack. Behind its 避難所 with his ライフル銃／探して盗む laid across it, he began 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing systematically at whatever moved out there in the dark. Whether he 攻撃する，衝突する any one he could not tell for 確かな , though dark formless 形態／調整s at which he 解雇する／砲火／射撃d いつかs seemed to waver as they 合併するd into the 影をつくる／尾行するs.

Up by the house the 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing grew more continuous, as though the attack was concentrating there and was 存在 hotly defended. For a few minutes the shotgun bellowed frequently, then was silent. While he dodged from place to place behind that rack, 狙撃 to 混乱させる the 目的（とする） of those who 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at his gun flashes, 半導体素子 had a thought to spare for Harvey, hoping he was all 権利.

Dodge as he would, a 弾丸 設立する his scarcely 傷をいやす／和解させるd left arm just above the 肘, numbing that 手渡す until it was useless, at least for a time. So he left the rack, which was no real 保護 after all, and ducked 支援する の中で the 激しく揺するs at the base of a cliff 塀で囲む and 辛勝する／優位d nearer to the stable corner. There he took 避難所 behind a 玉石 and 用意が出来ている to fight it out with his six-shooter.

It bothered him that the shotgun by the woodpile had no more to say; but two ライフル銃／探して盗むs—old Shep and Snuffle Jones, he was sure—spoke their little pieces pretty 定期的に from the house, so he knew the lynchers were not getting inside. にもかかわらず, he had an uncomfortable feeling that it could not go on much longer like this. Three against a （人が）群がる—they wouldn't come いっそう少なく than a dozen on their savage errand, and they were more likely to be twice that number, he thought. It would be hard to get into the house unless one of the men was 攻撃する，衝突する. Harvey was out of it—dead, maybe; out of 爆撃するs, perhaps. Out of the fight, that was a cinch. His own arm was bleeding a small, hot stream that dripped off his numbed fingers, and it seemed as though he couldn't 攻撃する，衝突する anything he 目的（とする）d at, any more. But he was keeping them away from the corrals, anyway. They'd have a 甘い time trying to 始める，決める anything afire so long as he could see to shoot.

Dizziness caught him just as he was standing up with some vague idea of going out into the open and 申し込む／申し出ing to shoot it out with Milt. Storehouse, corral, even the dark hills began to 回転する before his 注目する，もくろむs. Spurts of 炎上 out there showed 二塁打, and when he 解除するd his gun to shoot, it hung 激しい from his 手渡す. He took an uncertain step, saw the shadowy ground come up at him. So he sat 負かす／撃墜する on it—to 持つ／拘留する it still, he 宣言するd afterwards, though he knew all the while that the 血 running 負かす／撃墜する his arm was draining the strength from his 団体／死体, and that if it didn't stop pretty darned soon, it would be all off with him.

How long he sat there, leaning against the 玉石, he did not know. Two minutes or five—certainly not ten, the way he was bleeding. He had a 煙霧のかかった impression that the lynching party had for some 推論する／理由 separated, half of them climbing the hill 支援する of the house and 狙撃 負かす／撃墜する at the other half; vicious, stabbing spurts of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 which （機の）カム nearer all the while. He didn't know what was the meaning of this new 作戦行動, but he saw the gun flashes and heard the pow-w of the 発射s.

Those 負かす／撃墜する in the yard were 支援 up. Three or four blurred 人物／姿／数字s started running 負かす／撃墜する the road—to their horses, he guessed. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to hurry them up with a 発射 or two, but the 成果／努力 didn't seem 価値（がある） while after all.

And suddenly from the hillside there （機の）カム a chorus of yells that brought 半導体素子 up, clawing the 激しく揺する to 回復する his feet, laughing foolishly all the while. The Happy Family with their own special war whoop were 非難する 負かす／撃墜する upon the lynchers, coming miraculously out of nowhere. Happy Jack's raucous 発言する／表明する, fat old わずかな／ほっそりした's unmistakable bellow, 疲れた／うんざりした and Cal and Penny and Dickybird—their exultant トンs rose and blended in a heavenly chorus. "Give it to 'em, boys! 注ぐ it into them!" He thought he shouted that at the 最高の，を越す of his 発言する／表明する, though no one seemed to hear him.

負かす／撃墜する the last few feet of slope 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d the boys of the 飛行機で行くing U, 狙撃 as they ran. Before them, men scattered as chaff before a gust of 勝利，勝つd, leaving choice 要塞／本拠地s (where they had settled for a 包囲 that would end only when they could leave two men—or three, if they could get 持つ／拘留する of 半導体素子 Bennett alive—dangling from the nearest tree), running like rabbits for さらに先に coverts.

With a 最高の 成果／努力, 半導体素子 安定したd himself against the 激しく揺する and sent one 発射 after the nearest, then settled 支援する with a 深い sigh of satisfaction. Let the boys clean up the 残り／休憩（する）, he thought ばく然と. Couldn't cheat them out of their fun...

Dreamily he was next aware of a lantern bobbing here and there about the yard, looking like a 抱擁する firefly. Taking 一致する, he guessed. It never occurred to him that he might be the 反対する of their search. Let 'em 追跡（する）. He was too tired to care.

Then the lantern was 向こうずねing in his 直面する and all the boys were standing around, 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する at him. Some one was 持つ／拘留するing him—that darned girl again! In the lantern light her 注目する，もくろむs were big and 向こうずねing. A 減少（する） of water fell on his nose, another on his cheek.

"You—took your time," 半導体素子 said in a washed-out トン.

"You're a nice one, getting that sore arm 発射 up again."

Her 発言する／表明する sounded queer; as if she were crying. That's where those 減少（する）s （機の）カム from, then. It wasn't rain, it was Polly Taylor crying. He wished she wouldn't. Nothing to cry about now, unless—

"Anything wrong—up at the house? Harve—"

"They're all 権利. Where's Skelp Turner?"

Skelp. That's 権利, he had forgotten all about Skelp. "Got him hog-tied—over by the 盗品故買者. Tried to 燃やす the stables." He sighed again wearily. Too much trouble to explain. No use, anyway. Let them go 追跡（する） up Skelp—find out for themselves. And he thought of little Silver with those three 深い を刺すs in his hip. He had to go and wash them out with carbolic water. No telling what filth was on that fork...

Struggling to rise, he was 掴むd upon by 疲れた／うんざりした and 刑事 Bird.

"Let go. I'll pack him in," Dickybird's 穏やかな 発言する／表明する 抗議するd. "He's been bleedin' like a stuck pig. Got to stop it."

"I can walk. What's the 事柄 with you fellows?" 半導体素子 tried to 押し進める them off with his one good arm, puzzled because the strength had seeped out of his 団体／死体.

Then big 刑事 Bird gathered him up like a baby in his long 武器 and went teetering on his little feet to the house, the lantern keeping pace beside him.

"I've got to—got to—"

"You ain't got to do nothin' but keep 静かな," Dickybird 削減（する） him off.

"Little Silver. Skelp jabbed him with a pitchfork. I've got to—"

"Us boys'll look after that. We'll take care of the colt—and Skelp too." 耐えるing his 重荷（を負わせる） of six feet of bone and muscle (and 神経) along, Dickybird's breathing was still even and unlabored.

"Skelp Turner, he's took care of a'ready," わずかな／ほっそりした 発表するd, puffing up と一緒に. "Dead as a mackerel, by golly. Who done it? 半導体素子, did you?"

"Sure as hell tried. Take care of the colt." And with that, soft blackness descended upon 半導体素子.

XVI. — CHIP STILL WANTS PROOF

SAVORY smoke from frying venison steaks rose to the low 天井 and hung there, mixing agreeably with the aroma of coffee, the warm wheaty smell of pancakes flavored with a dash of corn meal in the 乱打する. Clatter of （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する things, the scuff of boot 単独のs on the rough board 床に打ち倒す, a 発言する／表明する now and then uttering a terse 宣告，判決. "More coffee, Mr. Whitmore?" . . . "運動 that cream 投手 this way."..."Who's got a corner on them pancakes?"..."Pass the butter, somebody." Yellow lamplight 向こうずねing on tanned 直面するs bent over filled plates. The quick light tread of the women moving from stove to （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 支援する again.

Pancake turner in one 手渡す, in the other a dish towel 倍のd into a bunglesome 一時しのぎの物，策 支えるもの／所有者, Polly Taylor 押し進めるd her わずかな／ほっそりした 団体／死体 between 疲れた／うんざりした and Cal Emmett, leaned and drew in a long, 深い breath; let it go with a 急ぐ over the lamp chimney. The 炎上 jumped and went out. Acrid odor of 燃やすing oil wick scented the warm steamy 空気／公表する of the room. She 転換d the towel to her shoulder and 選ぶd up the lamp.

"Morning," she 発表するd succinctly. "I want to get those 一面に覆う／毛布s off the window and let out a little of this smoke. It's 厚い enough to 削減（する） with a knife."

注目する，もくろむs turned her way in wordless 是認 of her 警告を与える. Too sharp to 暴露する a window while the lamp was lit, even if there was a guard outside. Smart as the next one, that girl. ちらりと見ることs followed her as she walked in momentary gloom to a window, reached up and pulled a 一面に覆う／毛布 off the two nails at the 最高の，を越す of the sash, letting the 激しい dark 保護物，者 落ちる to the 床に打ち倒す.

Filtered gray light enveloped her. 疲れた／うんざりした Davidson, who was nearest, またがるd backward over the （法廷の）裁判 and went to help her where she stood struggling with a warped sash. As it went up, a keen, 甘い 微風 急ぐd in and 始める，決める the breakfast smoke curling. From somewhere 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the stables two roosters were crowing a duet. A cow bawled 負かす／撃墜する in the pasture.

Against the 微風 Polly's check apron flapped, showing blue 全体にわたるs beneath it and the .38 Colt swinging in its holster at her 味方する. 立ち往生させるs of her 巡査 red hair 解除するd on her 寺s and the 影をつくる／尾行するs of 疲れた／うんざりした sleeplessness beneath her 罰金 注目する，もくろむs lay like splashes of purple paint.

She turned and looked 支援する at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する filled with 武装した 範囲 men, her 注目する，もくろむs 捜し出すing the one whiskered 直面する in the group. "Can't I go out and tell those fellows to come in and eat, Pa? I'll stand guard till the 残り／休憩（する） of you are through."

"I'll go," 疲れた／うんざりした's quick トンs 介入するd. "I'm 十分な to the eyebrows. You stay inside. I guess we ain't reached the point yet where a girl's got to stand guard over us." His smile, sunny, even though his 直面する was drawn and tired, robbed the words of any offence.

"井戸／弁護士席, I'll go take a look at the 患者 then," Polly 産する／生じるd in a carefully casual トン. "Maybe he can 扱う some breakfast." She drew in a long breath of fresh 空気／公表する and turned 支援する toward the stove. "You watch the cakes, will you, Ma? They're about filled up, anyway." She referred to the dozen men around the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Good thing they are," her mother made querulous retort. "If I hadn't been on the 職業, this whole griddle 十分な would of been 黒人／ボイコット as your hat. Go on with you. You better go to bed. I'll roust the boys out and make 'em wash the dishes." As Polly left the room, her mother's 発言する／表明する called after her, "He better not eat much. Something light. Ask him if he wouldn't like some milk toast. I can 直す／買収する，八百長をする it in a minute—I've got the milk hot 権利 here."

"All 権利, Ma. I'll ask."

But she didn't. She went first to the windows and raised the blinds and stood there looking out. From the wide, homemade couch in a corner, 半導体素子 turned his 長，率いる and looked at her, conscious of the picture she made with the faint 紅潮／摘発する of 早期に 夜明け lighting her 直面する and her coppery hair lying in loose waves from 栄冠を与える to neck. It was the first time he had ever seen Polly Taylor without that big Stetson pulled 負かす／撃墜する on her 長，率いる. It had never occurred to him that her hair might be beautiful. Long silky 攻撃するs never impressed him much, かもしれない because women had raved about his own eyelashes as far 支援する as he could remember—until he grew too big to stand for that 肉親，親類d of slush. But her profile as she stood there looking out into the coulee gave him an 半端物 feeling of never having seen the girl before. Certainly he had never seen just that 段階 of Polly.

He wondered if it was just a crazy notion he had, that she had 流出／こぼすd 涙／ほころびs on his 直面する last night. She looked tired and worried and her shoulders drooped, as did the corners of her mouth, but she did not look as if she were at all likely to cry; certainly not over him or any other man. He guessed he 肉親，親類d of 洞穴d in, last night. 弾丸 in his arm. He remembered now. He was about all in when the boys showed up—And that was funny, their coming just in the nick of time. He wondered how they happened along; and then he knew. It was Polly, over there. That's where she disappeared to last night. Fogged over to the 飛行機で行くing U and 通知するd the bunch. . . .

"How'd it pan out, last night?" he asked suddenly. "Anybody 傷つける on our 味方する?" He 解除するd himself with an 成果／努力 to his good 肘 and balanced there, waiting for the room to やめる spinning and settle 負かす／撃墜する.

Polly turned and gave him a long enigmatic look. "Oh, no!" she said with much sarcasm. "Not at all. You （機の）カム within an インチ of bleeding to death, but of course that's nothing."

"Nothing at all." His トン の近くにd the 支配する 効果的に. "I believe I asked how the fight turned out, but you needn't bother. If 疲れた／うんざりした's here, I'd like to see him, if it isn't too much trouble to ask. . . ."

Red 炎上d up into her 直面する. She took a step toward him, 嵐／襲撃する in her 注目する，もくろむs. "Oh, you—I'd like to 非難する you!"

"Yes?" The room 辞退するd to 安定した itself. 半導体素子 let himself 負かす／撃墜する on the pillow again. "Go ahead. You have my 許可." As his 長，率いる （疑いを）晴らすd and the girl's 人物／姿／数字 中止するd to waver like 乱すd water in a pool, he saw that she was really trembling, glaring at him with her 手渡すs 二塁打d into 握りこぶしs at her 味方する. He honestly wondered why; he couldn't see what he had said or done that was so terrible. "When you get around to it," he said ironically, "would you mind asking 疲れた／うんざりした or—"

With a whispered word of 抑えるd fury, she turned and left the room, slamming the door after her so that the wail of an awakened baby rose within the next room.

Now that he was alone, 半導体素子 tried again to get up, with a little better success. He was sitting owlishly on the 味方する of the couch when 疲れた／うんざりした （機の）カム in with J.G., Shorty and old Shep Taylor behind him.

疲れた／うんざりした 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する a large milkpan in which a cup of coffee, two boiled eggs and a dish of milk toast were 組み立てる／集結するd. "How yuh feel, 半導体素子? Mamma, you sure gave us a 脅す last night. Seems like you can't ever go into a fight without getting yourself all bunged up somehow. Throw this into you and maybe you'll feel better."

J.G. 低迷d into a 近づく-by 議長，司会を務める, hitching it closer to the couch. "If yuh feel like talkin', 半導体素子, I wish you'd tell us just what you 設立する out about all this 商売／仕事. You was 負かす／撃墜する at Butch's place, the girl told us. He have any 手渡す in the stealin'?"

半導体素子 tasted the coffee, 設立する it 権利 and knew that 疲れた／うんざりした had probably sweetened it for him. "Not as far as I could find out. I was there a week, during the 嵐／襲撃する, and Butch was 罰金. I didn't take to the men he had with him, but I'm sure they didn't have any 手渡す at all in the rustling."

"One of 'em was laid out 冷淡な last night," J.G. 知らせるd him きっぱりと. "Feller they called Sime. Know 'im?"

"Sime?" 半導体素子 looked up so quickly it made his 長，率いる whirl. "Sure, I know him. ネズミ, the way I sized him up," he said, when the vertigo passed. He dipped into the dish of egg, trying to 安定した the shaking of his 手渡す; gave it up and groped for his cigarette 構成要素, letting it go when 疲れた／うんざりした 申し込む／申し出d him a fresh-rolled smoke.

"You lay 負かす／撃墜する and take it 平易な, old boy," 疲れた／うんざりした admonished. "You ain't in any 形態／調整 to mix into this 商売／仕事 now."

"We've got to get the straight of this," J.G. snubbed him. "I guess it won't kill him to talk a minute."

"Certainly I can talk. I'm not that far gone," 半導体素子 said peevishly, his 直面する reddened with what 血 was left in his lean 団体／死体. He looked at Shep Taylor with some 当惑. "You may as 井戸／弁護士席 get the fact that Butch and his men believed it was the Hobble-O doing the butchering. Butch as much as said so. He didn't want to get mixed up in it, but it looks like the jaspers he's got working for him were ready enough to take a 手渡す in any little lynching that was going on. I don't believe Butch was here last night. He doesn't strike me as 存在 that 肉親，親類d. It's the men he's got—"

"Poppycock!" snarled old Shep, with sudden 暴力／激しさ. "You let 'im pull the wool over your 注目する，もくろむs. Butch ain't no saint. He's in fer any deviltry that's goin'. He knows damn 井戸／弁護士席 I ain't no rustler." He walked over to the fireplace and spat ひどく into the half-dead embers of last night's 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"Just the same, I don't believe he was here with that ギャング（団） last night," 半導体素子 競うd. And then he thought of something and turned white under his tan. "I'll damn soon find out," he 宣言するd, after a breathless pause, during which he was remembering how quickly Skelp Turner had 軟化するd toward him, when 半導体素子 spoke intimately of Big Butch and his men. "I'll make it my 商売／仕事 to see where he stands. Soon as I'm on my feet again—"

Old Shep was raking the coals, laying on more 支持を得ようと努めるd, for the room was chilly. He turned with the long poker in his 手渡す and strode to the couch. "Think I'm goin' to 始める，決める around in the house and wait for you to scurrup around playin' deetectiff?" he 需要・要求するd in his rasping 発言する／表明する. "I got work t'do. They'll be layin' in the hills tryin' to bushwhack us f'm now on till we git 'em 冷淡な."

J.G. gestured for silence. "What's all this about Milt Cummings 存在 mixed up in it? Shep, here, says you told him you've got the goods on Milt, but you never told him how."

半導体素子 had done a good 取引，協定 of thinking on that 支配する. "I thought we could sweat it out of Skelp Turner," he 自白するd, "but by 権利s he oughta be dead. He is, if I can shoot 価値（がある） a damn."

"Deader'n salt pork," Shorty gruffly attested. "How'd that happen, 半導体素子? He was wrapped up in rope like a kid would tie a man. You do that?"

半導体素子 colored again. "It was dark and the 狙撃 had started up here at the house, and he'd played dead on me once before and はうd off in the dark to 始める，決める the stable afire," he explained 簡潔に. "I wasn't taking any more chance with him, that's all. I was pretty sure he was dead when I tied him."

"Mamma!" 疲れた／うんざりした murmured. "You sure are getting to be a real wolf!" He squatted on his heels beside the couch. "How'd Skelp get into the game in the first place?"

That much 半導体素子 told them. "But I 港／避難所't any proof except what Skelp said," he 追加するd dispiritedly. "I was going to jump Milt about it, but he was gone when I got to his place. I guess if he was honest, he might be just as liable to get a 暴徒 together and try and wipe out the Hobble-O."

"Not on your life," 疲れた／うんざりした grunted. "Milt plays cinches. If he was honest, he'd wait and get the goods on the Hobble-O."

"I heard him 負かす／撃墜する by the storehouse telling a couple of fellows to hustle 負かす／撃墜する and 燃やす the haystacks 負かす／撃墜する in the coulee," 半導体素子 suddenly 解任するd. "He did say one thing that showed Skelp wasn't just talking through his hat. He 脅すd what all he'd do if Skelp had 二塁打-crossed him. Some one had blabbed, he said." He looked around the group. "I guess that shows plain enough Milt's the one."

J.G. got up, caught old Shep's 注目する，もくろむ and 攻撃するd his 長，率いる toward the door. "That's good enough for me," he said, "and I guess it is for all of us. Milt's started this thing now and he's got to go through. Shorty, you go git the boys together. We've got to make a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up here."

"Damn 権利 there'll be a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up," snarled old Shep as they went out.

Left alone, 半導体素子 tried to get up and follow. No use. His 膝s buckled under him and he lay 支援する, 悪口を言う／悪態ing his luck. He looked at his 包帯d arm that had put him 負かす／撃墜する just when he needed to be at his best. 血. He needed more of it in his veins to 取って代わる what had 漏れるd out.

In the pan beside him the 深い dish of milk toast stood 冷淡な and soggy. The eggs too were 冷淡な, and so was the coffee. No 事柄, his stomach wouldn't know the difference, maybe. 血 was made from food, wasn't it?

"Thank the Lord, I don't have to wait for a broken 脚 to mend," he muttered, and 始める，決める himself doggedly to the 仕事 of swallowing everything in that pan except the dishes. And when he had finished, he lay 負かす／撃墜する and as doggedly went to sleep. For he had a 目的 to 遂行する and his 十分な strength was the one thing he needed.

XVII. — FIGHT THE DEVIL WITH FIRE

WHILE 半導体素子 lay glumly waiting until the 傷をいやす／和解させるing 軍隊s of his 団体／死体 built new 血 and fresh tissue—one for the whole length of him and the other for the 弾丸 穴を開ける in his arm—events moved at what he considered a slow and uncertain pace. It must be that J.G. and Shep Taylor had lost their 支配する of things, he thought carpingly. They certainly didn't go after Milt and his （人が）群がる the way they should have done and so they made a flat fizzle of the whole thing.

疲れた／うんざりした told him about it while the 残り／休憩（する） were eating supper that night. They had gone to Milt's place, the whole bunch of them, and they were ready for war. They had seen Milt all 権利—棒 権利 up and called him to the door. Spike Reilly and 法案 Hurst were there, monkeying with a bronc in the corral. Carl Jahn, another Lazy Ladder man, was laid out in the blacksmith shop, dead. They planned on burying him that afternoon, and a couple of the boys were up beyond the pasture, digging him a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

So that was the layout. "Milt talked straight," 疲れた／うんざりした sighed. "Setting there on my horse, listening to him, I couldn't see but what Milt was the 負傷させるd party 権利 from the word go. He （人命などを）奪う，主張するd that all the 証拠 pointed straight to the Hobble-O, and he said he was so damn tired of 存在 robbed that he made up his mind to make a clean-up. （人命などを）奪う，主張するd he still thought old Shep had stole about fifty 長，率いる of beef from him. And he also made the （人命などを）奪う，主張する that he's been losing calves 権利 along, ever since Shep moved in here. Mamma, but he's a 納得させるing cuss when he wants to be!"

半導体素子 grunted. "Didn't anybody bone him about Skelp Turner, for the Lord sake?"

"Yeah, J.G. brought that up. Told him what Skelp had said. Milt, he 申し込む／申し出d to go and choke the truth outa Skelp. Said he was a liar by the clock and had it in for him because he wouldn't have Skelp on the place." 疲れた／うんざりした shook his 長，率いる. "I tell yuh, 半導体素子, a feller can't help himself—he's got to believe Milt while Milt's talkin', anyway."

半導体素子 turned himself impatiently on his bed. "井戸／弁護士席, did you tell him what I heard last night? Heard him say—"

"Yeah—Cal 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd out with that, way he always does horn in on any 支配する. Milt （人命などを）奪う，主張するs you got your lines crossed. He was cussin' Shep out and talkin' about Skelp at the same time, and you got things mixed. Milt says he thought he knowed the sound of Skelp's shotgun, and he thought mebby Skelp had been snoopin' around, gettin' an earful, and was trying to get a whack at 'em just for devilment. Milt said it would be just Skelp's idea of a joke to stand 'em off at the Hobble-O, and 負かす／撃墜する Milt if he could, and then turn around and kill old Shep himself, and let on like it was all done in the fight. That's all he had in mind, he said, and you got the wrong idea. He says him and Skelp Turner have been on the outs for the last two years and more, and he's had to ride with one 注目する，もくろむ peeled for the old cuss whenever he was over in Skelp's part of the country."

"And you damned chumps swallowed that?"

"井戸／弁護士席, I didn't myself—I don't know about the 残り／休憩（する）. But it did kinda ball things up some. You can't," sighed 疲れた／うんざりした, "just take a man out and hang him, unless you've got his 犯罪 cinched on him so tight he can't はう out of it." He licked his cigarette 負かす／撃墜する and 新たな展開d the ends, meditating upon the 声明. "You can't, unless you're the strangler type yourself and kinda take to the 職業 natural," he 修正するd, while he 追跡（する）d for a match.

He gave 半導体素子 the cigarette, lighted it for him and began making another for himself.

"I could," 半導体素子 said savagely. "Milt, anyway." He blew a mouthful of smoke and gave a characteristic snort. "He's 有罪の as hell and you know it."

"I 推定する／予想する he is, all 権利. But this was a 有望な sunny morning. Anyway, Milt put up a damned good argument, 半導体素子. If I didn't know you like I do, darned if I wouldn't of taken his word for it." He looked at 半導体素子. "Skelp Turner was a skunk," he said 試験的に.

"Sure he was. He also thought I was one of the ギャング（団） and talked accordingly. If you want to think Milt Cummings is a little tin angel, go to it—"

"Aw, come off your perch. I don't think nothing like that. I used to, but not any more. 非，不，無 of us do. Shep's going up around Milk River—starts in the morning—and 選ぶ up a bunch of riders that'll put the 恐れる of the Lord into that Lazy Ladder outfit, if they so much as 塀で囲む an 注目する，もくろむ toward the Hobble-O. We kinda ride herd around here till he gets 支援する."

He turned his 長，率いる, listening to the supper sounds in the next room. He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd his half-smoked cigarette into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and yawned. "I sure do hope I don't have to leave the bed-ground to-night," he said. "They know we're on the 職業, so I guess they'll ride the other 味方する the crick to-night. They know damn 井戸／弁護士席 they got off cheap, losin' only Carl Jahn. If it had been Spike, now—"

"The last card isn't turned yet," 半導体素子 muttered.

疲れた／うんざりした stood up, yawned again. Thirty-six hours, most of them in the saddle, had taken （死傷者）数 of him. "井戸／弁護士席, they'll be bringin' in a hot mash for yuh, any time now," he 観察するd. "How's the arm, anyway?"

"Not so worse." 半導体素子 bit his lip. "I'll be outa here in another day."

疲れた／うんざりした grinned skeptically. "Not if Polly's rope don't 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, you won't. Boy, you're sure goin' to convalesce accordin' to Hoyle this time."

"I'm damned if I do!" snapped 半導体素子. But 疲れた／うんざりした only grinned the wider.

"You got things to learn about Polly," he 明言する／公表するd darkly, as he went out.

静める days of 日光 followed and 疲れた／うんざりした was very nearly 権利, at least where Polly was 関心d. So many riders 範囲ing about made it plainly unnecessary for her to be riding from 夜明け to dark, and 半導体素子 saw Polly in checked gingham and flowered calico, with her sleeves rolled up most of the time, showing unsuspected dimples in her 肘s. Also the untaught waves in her 巡査-red hair 乱すd him, 特に when she stooped to smooth his pillow or to bring him food. But he would have died before he 認める it, and that gave him a sullen look when she was in the room and made his manner toward her aloof, with a frigid politeness that almost drove Polly to man-sized cusswords.

But there was plenty of work to keep her どこかよそで. There were the children, with their incessant 需要・要求するs and their ひどく sudden quarrels to arbitrate. There was the cooking for hungry riders who （機の）カム and went. There was the boot-跡をつけるd kitchen to scrub every day or two, and the baby to hush, while her mother snatched a little 残り／休憩（する） or did the more 専門家 baking.

Four 十分な days of that, while 半導体素子 軍隊d himself to 嘘（をつく） as 静かな as the scabbarded ライフル銃／探して盗むs on the saddles of the 飛行機で行くing U boys. It 困らすd him terribly that not a gun smoked during all that time. They were letting Milt Cummings get away with it and he called them fools and worse. Milt was just 穴を開けるing up like a coyote, waiting until things 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する. He'd get old Shep where the hair was short and it would just about serve the old fool 権利. Milt was nobody's fool. He 証明するd that when he soft-soaped J.G. into thinking he was a hell of a 罰金 feller that just lost his temper and made a pass at hanging some of his neighbors before he 冷静な／正味のd off. That was what it all 量d to, the way Milt talked.

半導体素子 held his impatience in with as tight a rein as if it were a horse that kept trying to bolt. He couldn't afford to （人が）群がる that cussed arm 権利 now. Start that vein, or whatever it was, to 漏れるing again, and he might just 同様に 削減（する） his throat and make a quicker 職業 of it. He did not fool himself. He had come as 近づく bleeding to death as was comfortable, and like it or not, he had to take it 平易な for awhile.

Fortunately, the 弾丸 負傷させる was a clean 穴をあける, that had 行方不明になるd the bone, and healthy flesh 傷をいやす／和解させるs quickly. Polly's mother had learned a good 取引，協定 about 弾丸 負傷させるs in her years on the frontier and with rare ありふれた sense she did the necessary things and left Nature to …に出席する to the 残り／休憩（する）. So, while it seemed a terribly long while to 半導体素子, strength flowed 速く 支援する into his flaccid muscles, no 疑問 速度(を上げる）d by his indomitable will to be 支援する at his 職業.

On the fifth day after the fight, several 出来事/事件s 示すd a change at the Hobble-O. 早期に that morning, the Happy Family 棒 with J.G. 支援する to the 飛行機で行くing U, 率直に 推定する／予想するing 半導体素子 to follow as soon as he was able to ride. 半導体素子 felt able to ride whenever he chose, but he lay 静かな until they were 井戸／弁護士席 away from the ranch.

Late the night before, old Shep had returned from up Harve way. Half a dozen wire-muscled men with the brown 直面するs of riders had unrolled their 一面に覆う／毛布s in the Hobble-O bunk house. Real go-getters by the look of them, 疲れた／うんざりした 報告（する）／憶測d to 半導体素子, when he said good-by in the morning. Three of them packed 30-30's, two had long-バーレル／樽d 45-70's—he didn't get a chance to see what the sixth man carried; a carbine of some sort. Anyway, they'd be hard 顧客s to go up against, and he guessed the Hobble-O wouldn't need to call on the neighbors again to help 'em out.

That 存在 the 事例／患者, 半導体素子 turned again to his own 事件／事情／状勢s. When the ranch was 静かな and even the two boys had climbed the coulee 塀で囲む on some mysterious 商売／仕事 of their own, 半導体素子 drew his 包帯d arm out of its sling and worked it carefully into his sour-dough coat. He pulled on his chaps and buckled on his 刺激（する）s and his gun and took his ライフル銃／探して盗む from the corner where Polly had stood it the day after the fight (she having cleaned it with meticulous care).

He told the surprised Mrs. Taylor that he was going for a ride and he didn't know when he might be 支援する, but he was mighty 感謝する for all she had done for him, and his arm was all 権利 now. As an afterthought, he asked her if she would tell Shep he'd like to leave his colt there for awhile.

"You be careful you don't start that arm bleeding again," she admonished him, hushing the baby cuddled over her shoulder. "I'll tell Shep, but it don't 事柄, anyway. Anything you want on this ranch is yours and you know it. Or you せねばならない. We don't forget a 親切 here—nor a wrong, either."

"Same here," 半導体素子 宣言するd, with one of his rare smiles. "I certainly won't forget the way you took care of this arm of 地雷, and—"

"井戸／弁護士席, I hope I don't have it all to do over again," she broke in, with a brusqueness that would deceive no one. "You be careful; that's all I got to say. You going 支援する to work for the Flyin' U again?"

半導体素子 reddened. "井戸／弁護士席, I—I've got a little something to do first—" It was difficult to 嘘（をつく） to a person like Lavina Taylor, more difficult still to parry that direct and piercing gaze which she いつかs 雇うd. "I—"

"When you get outside this coulee, you better have 注目する，もくろむs in the 支援する of your 長，率いる," she 明言する／公表するd surprisingly, one red-knuckled 手渡す patting the baby with a mechanically soothing 動議. "No use tryin' to talk you out of it, I guess—you're about as stubborn as they make 'em. But remember one thing, 半導体素子. If there ain't a bounty on your skelp 権利 now, there will be. I wish you'd stay 静かな till that arm's 井戸／弁護士席."

"It's 井戸／弁護士席 enough." His mouth had pinched in at the corners. "I'll take care of my scalp, all 権利."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'd hate to see—" Her 発言する／表明する 追跡するd into silence. Her 注目する，もくろむs clouded, looking 支援する along the 薄暗い years to other bold young fellows who had made that 誇る—and failed to keep it, some of them. "They all know how it was we had warnin' in time," she said. "They've got that chalked up against you and don't you forget it." Her breath sucked in with a sibilant sound, as if a sudden 苦痛 had caught her. "You're goin' after Milt yourself—now, ain't yuh?"

半導体素子 gave her a startled ちらりと見ること. "What makes you think that, Mrs. Taylor?"

"I don't think it. I know it. And I want to give you a word of advice." She hesitated. "You never fought Injuns—but you've heard tell of how cunning they are. You're goin' up against them that's worse than Injuns. More 背信の. Recollect, Milt Cummings has passed as a nice fellow and a good neighbor. He's married into the Cow Island clique. The way he's worked his 計画／陰謀 to get two honest men hung for his own devilment—Daniel in the lions' den had a cinch compared to what you're starting out to do."

"I know that. But I'm planning to live in this country and I'm not going to spend the 残り／休憩（する） of my life dodging 弾丸s. The only way to clean up this 商売／仕事 is to dig up proof that'd stand in 法廷，裁判所. Milt's making me out a liar and that's something I don't stand for a 宗教上の minute." As his hot angry 注目する，もくろむs met hers, he 軍隊d a smile that seemed to beg her 容赦 for his 誇るing. "When I 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する it'll be for a 弾丸," he explained, a boyish diffidence 追いつくing him. "It won't be because I've やめる." And he 追加するd, "All anybody can do is try."

"井戸／弁護士席, I only hope and pray you 後継する," sighed Polly's mother. "I know Shep's life ain't 安全な, and it won't be, till that bunch is cleaned out. And if I was a man, 半導体素子, I'd look at it the way you do." She turned 突然の and 始める，決める the baby 負かす／撃墜する on the 床に打ち倒す, heedless of his resentful squall. "You won't feel much like cookin' for a day or two and chances is it won't be any too 安全な to show a 解雇する／砲火／射撃. You wait a minute and I'll put you up a meal or two of grub."

"What I want most," 半導体素子 設立する courage to say, "is a couple of those cowhides stacked in the shed."

"My land, take all yuh want," she called from the pantry. "Fight the devil with 解雇する／砲火／射撃, is what I always say."

半導体素子's spirits 解除するd. Polly's mother was a brick; not a bit like that darned daughter of hers. With a flour 解雇（する） half filled with fresh-baked bread and a couple of pies and plenty of doughnuts, he went stilting 負かす／撃墜する to the corrals in his high-heeled boots. The friendly admonitions of Polly's mother warmed his heart and put a glow of 楽観主義 in his 目的.

With his hat 攻撃するd over one eyebrow, his gun riding snug at his hip and his big-roweled 刺激（する）s making pleasant clinking sounds against the stirrups, he 棒 away 負かす／撃墜する the coulee with Jeff 井戸／弁護士席 packed and に引き続いて amiably at マイク's heels. His 支援する was straight and his chin was stubborn, and he didn't give a darn if he met Polly Taylor square in the road. He'd show her, by 雷鳴, that he was his own boss and would do as he pleased. He wasn't broke to the halter yet, he'd tell her. He didn't lead 価値（がある） a cent.

XVIII. — THE WIND'S IN THE NORTH

IN a hidden little pocket in the hills 半導体素子 spent nearly the whole afternoon fashioning eight 天然のまま but 満足な boots of the cowhides begged from Mrs. Taylor, and in helping the two horses accustom themselves to the feel of the ぎこちない things on their feet. When マイク やめる kicking and with a final disgusted snort 辞職するd himself to the 侮辱／冷遇, 半導体素子 機動力のある and 棒 on, に引き続いて a carefully thought-out 計画（する） he had made while he lay 明らかに dozing in his bed at the Taylor's.

That night he （軍の）野営地，陣営d in the Devil's Dipper, with a rope stretched across the six-foot 入り口, and the certainty that no one could ever 追跡する him to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. 関わりなく Polly's slighting 発言／述べるs about the place, he considered it as good a hide-out （軍の）野営地，陣営 as he could 推定する／予想する to find; at least, for the time 存在.

Daybreak next morning 設立する him away over in the canyon that led by devious windings to the eastward valley, riding slowly and scanning every インチ of the ground, as he 近づくd the rocky gorge 負かす／撃墜する which his trailer the other day must have gone. Now that he knew the 肉親，親類d of 示す those cowhide boots left behind them, 跡をつけるing was possible wherever a hoof would leave a print. There were faint impressions to be seen even where the ground was hard, and in the softer 国／地域 were blurred shapeless 跡をつけるs that 似ているd hoofprints months old. It was no wonder he had failed to trace the 殺し屋s in his first week and more of 追跡（する）ing this broken country; but it 怒り／怒るd him now to think how he had been fooled.

With their trick known, he read aright 確かな vague impressions in a 乾燥した，日照りの wash 支店ing off from the southern 味方する of the canyon, just before it 狭くするd to the 瓶／封じ込める-neck gorge. The 穏やかな and windless days since these 示すs were made had not blown the sand, and the prints remained as they had been that day. By looking 支援する and 熟考する／考慮するing マイク's muffled 跡をつけるs, he could tell just what 示すs to look for ahead of him. His lip curled. Smart, weren't they? But they hadn't been smart enough to 選ぶ up that boot when it dropped off a horse's foot. They had left it by a sagebush to give their show away. So now it was a snap.

As he 棒 on and on, turning and 新たな展開ing amongst the 網状組織 of 狭くする gulches and draws that seamed the butte's ragged base, he saw many 示すs such as マイク was making; so many, that without マイク's 跡をつけるs before his 注目する，もくろむs as a 見本, he would have thought the 示すs were made by the freakish gouging of 浮浪者 勝利，勝つd. Now he knew better. He knew he had struck the 追跡する where the Lazy Ladder men 棒 across to the northern part of the breaks to do their stealing.

A rough and difficult 追跡する it was in 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs, with 法外な pitches in and out of pinched gullies. No one would ever dream of looking for a 追跡する through here. There were places where his stirrups touched the 激しく揺する on either 味方する and he had to turn his 膝s in against his horse to 避ける 捨てるing them. Certainly no packed horses ever （機の）カム through this way. 半導体素子 saw very 明確に why the stolen beef was taken around the other 味方する of the butte to Skelp Turner's （軍の）野営地，陣営.

Simple! So simple that when he arrived suddenly at a 際立った fork in the vague 追跡する he was に引き続いて, the significance of the circumstance at first did not occur to him. A divided opinion about a bad bit just ahead, he thought it, and chose the 権利-手渡す gulch for no particular 推論する／理由 except perhaps that マイク showed 利益／興味 in that direction, walking with the springy 膝s of 見込み, ears 攻撃するd 今後. There was no mistaking that 態度. 半導体素子 swung off where a 後援 of 激しく揺する 申し込む／申し出d some concealment for his horse and went 今後 to 調査／捜査する 進行中で.

Not に引き続いて the blurred 追跡する, however. Instead, he climbed a 攻撃するd seam along the 激しく揺する 塀で囲む—for he had no 意向 of 会合 some of the Lazy Ladder ギャング（団） 直面する to 直面する in that 狭くする place. True, they might shoot him off the 味方する where he couldn't very 井戸／弁護士席 hide himself, but he counted on not 存在 discovered. Men with wide-brimmed hats bend their ちらりと見ることs toward the ground, as they ride, or look out at a level, as a 支配する. Unless they heard him, they would not be likely to look up. And その上に, the broken seam kept climbing, 公正に／かなり 平易な to follow. Another minute or so and he was up above a bulging out-thrust which would hide him from any one on the ground. And still he heard no one approach.

Then, looking always ahead, he glimpsed trees and knew that the gulch must end in an open space. Perhaps some secret 水盤／入り江 where something might be learned. He went on. And he heard a man shout some phrase of 迎える／歓迎するing. Though the words did not reach him, he could tell by the トン.

突然に he was 直面するing a valley which looked ばく然と familiar. Below him rose the smoke from a cabin chimney, and a corral 盗品故買者 swung out from the cliff. Men were talking, すぐに beneath him, and in the windless 空気／公表する of midmorning their words （機の）カム to him with a disquieting clearness.

Big Butch was one and he was asking some strange man what 肉親，親類d of a trip he had had. The stranger said it was all 権利, and the boys were at the river and would be drifting in that night.

"Didn't know as we better 長，率いる this way all in a bunch," he explained. "We heard about the fizzle the other night—"

They talked of the fight at the Hobble-O and another 発言する／表明する joined in, then another. 発言する／表明するs 半導体素子 knew, talking in a way that 始める，決める the 血 続けざまに猛撃するing in his veins.

With a slow and careful movement, he reached up and pulled off his hat, afraid that some one might chance to look up and get a glimpse of it. On his belly he インチd 今後 to the very 辛勝する／優位, hoping for a sight of the （衆議院の）議長s; but all he saw was a 黒人／ボイコット hat, 始める，決める far 支援する on a 長，率いる and hiding it 完全に, and a pair of shoulders drooped 今後; some one roosting on the corral 盗品故買者, he knew by the posture. The stable roof, jutting out, hid all the others from his sight. Probably, he thought, they were hunkered 負かす／撃墜する on their boot heels against the stable 塀で囲む, smoking while they talked, as 範囲 men have a fashion of doing.

"I hear they got Sime."

"Yeah, the damn fool didn't have sense enough to はう into his 穴を開ける," Butch's 発言する／表明する answered. "I told him to keep his nose out—"

"Flicker, he 選ぶd up a 弾丸 too, some one was tellin' me."

"Not that night, he didn't. Flicker was home in bed when that jamboree was goin' on. I've been 味方する-steppin' this cattle stuff, much as I could."

"Milt, he kinda overplayed his 手渡す, looks like to me," another 発言する／表明する spoke carpingly. "Why'n hell didn't he wait a week or so, before he opened up the ball?"

Butch's 発言する／表明する was explanatory. "井戸／弁護士席, for one thing, the 天候 turned off warm all of a sudden and the butcherin' had to stop—unless they 手配中の，お尋ね者 to pitch good beef into a gully somewhere. The boys made a big killin' and done that a coupla times, but Milt, he don't go very strong on that kinda work. Milt hates like hell to see a 薄暗い git away from him. Then . . ."

"Thought he was goin' to （犯罪の）一味 the Flyin' U in on it and make—"

"Seems like they wouldn't （犯罪の）一味 . . ."

A pulse in 半導体素子's throat started 大打撃を与えるing so hard it almost choked him while he listened. They talked about Milt, 非難するing him behind his 支援する and 指名するing his faults and his 証拠不十分s. They drifted into intimate and terribly 明らかにする／漏らすing talk of their own 計画（する）s and how they meant to carry them out. They discussed old Shep Taylor as if he were a man already dead, and seemed to know a surprising lot about his ranch, his family and his 事件／事情／状勢s. They knew the 指名するs of the men he had 雇うd up Milk River way, and their general 特徴. There was one, Blink Roberts, whose presence at the Hobble-O seemed to furnish them with a good 取引，協定 of amusement. They said, over and over, leave it to Blink.

They talked of the 飛行機で行くing U. . . .

Until Sam's raucous 発言する／表明する called them in to their dinner, 半導体素子 lay up there の中で the 激しく揺する がれき and listened, 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd with a terrible intentness upon that 黒人／ボイコット hat and the 屈服するd shoulders beneath. Once his 手渡す reached 支援する and の近くにd upon the butt of his gun, then 緩和するd and （機の）カム away, as sober sense 警告するd him that this was not the time. He did not know whose 長，率いる that hat covered, nor did he identify any particular 発言する／表明する with the wearer; but an 時折の outflung 手渡す told him when that man was speaking and the 誘惑 to end his speech with a leaden period was almost irresistible at times.

But to kill the man in the 黒人／ボイコット hat would have 遂行するd nothing except to bring them all like hounds on his 追跡する, and that he could not afford. Not now. Not now, while all their desultory talk, so self-明らかにする／漏らすing, and all the 計画（する）s they had discussed together was locked away in his memory. 危険 enough now that a 弾丸 might blot out the knowledge he carried before he could make use of it. Milt and Milt's men were 追跡（する）ing him—or they would be, as soon as they discovered he had left the Hobble-O. "—and damn it, I keep tellin' Milt that 半導体素子 Bennett's only one white 半導体素子 in this game—" While 半導体素子 lay up here, fingering his six-shooter, they had all laughed at Butch's pun. But it was true, にもかかわらず. In this game he was just a white 半導体素子—and yet, いつかs a white 半導体素子 may 勝利，勝つ or lose the game.

No, he couldn't take a chance more than he had to now. Lucky for him he had borrowed their trick of muffling their horses' feet, he thought, as he made his way 慎重に 支援する 負かす／撃墜する to where マイク stood. If they used this secret 追跡する—as they no 疑問 would sooner or later—they would see no strange 跡をつけるs. It might, he thought, be an advantage いつか to know this 支援する way in to Fishback Canyon, as Butch called his place.

Riding 支援する the way he had come, at the fork in the 追跡する he paused just long enough to 公式文書，認める the other 追跡する's direction. The 追跡する over to the Lazy Ladder, he was now 確かな . And he 棒 half turned in the saddle after that, watching 支援する the way he had come, feeling his 支援する muscles relax whenever he turned a sharp bend and knew that a 弾丸 could not follow him there.

But the winding way lay empty to the noon sun. The canyon was still with that breathless silence of a barren land, lying forsaken by men. As quickly as he could, he got 支援する into the Devil's Dipper where he could feel 安全な・保証する. Yet even here he was 怪しげな and uneasy, almost 確かな some one had been there in his absence. Some things were moved in his 一時しのぎの物，策 （軍の）野営地，陣営, the rope across the 入り口 tied with a different knot.

With his ライフル銃／探して盗む の近くに at 手渡す and his ちらりと見ること 逸脱するing often to that crevice through the 山の尾根 which was the only means of getting to him, he ate a little and rolled a cigarette and thought of his next move.

It wasn't 平易な to decide. いつかs his thoughts reeled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, the different diabolical things he had heard that day weaving drunkenly together, darting thoughts 飛行機で行くing from one to another like a 群れている of midges that never alighted anywhere. And he had to do some straight, hard thinking. Those devils 支援する there—it was up to him whether they made a go of their 計画（する）s.

半導体素子 never dreamed how thin and drawn his 直面する looked, nor how his 注目する，もくろむs were sunken in their sockets and gleamed with pin-point pupils, as he sat there on his bed roll, 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する the rocky 扱う of the Devil's Dipper, his ライフル銃／探して盗む laid across his 膝s while he tried to smoke and relax, so that he could think things out and decide just what he せねばならない do first. Relax!—While his 負傷させるd arm ached like a throbbing tooth and his whole 団体／死体 cried out for 残り／休憩（する）; and the cigarette he had started to smoke went 冷淡な in his 緊張した fingers, and the consciousness of 存在 追跡（する）d glued his gaze to the one 攻撃を受けやすい point in his 退却／保養地.

But after a little, one thought detached itself from the spinning 混乱. Haste! What he had to do, he must do quickly, before the Lazy Ladder stopped him with a 弾丸. After that, it didn't 事柄 very much. If they got him, he thought moodily, they wouldn't get much; not after he had told what he knew. But he had that one 職業 to do first. He had to get out of here and tell. He had to.

That much then was （疑いを）晴らす in his mind now and it brought a 確かな 解放（する） from the 緊張する. The horror of his knowledge was passing, settling into a 決意 to give those devils 支援する there a surprise. There was only one way to do that and the 職業 was his. If he weren't man enough to put it over . . .

Mechanically his shoulders 解除するd in a shrug at that contingency, and the movement had an 半端物 影響 of throwing off the （一定の）期間 of 混乱させるd 狼狽 at what he had learned. He looked at his cigarette, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it into the ashes of his breakfast 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and made himself a fresh one, 存在 particular to 涙／ほころび off a （土地などの）細長い一片 of paper of the exact width he preferred.

"And I hope I get a chance to tell Butch he better not talk so loud next time," he muttered grimly as he snapped the tiny paper pellet into the dead 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "He sure as hell stuck his 長，率いる in the noose that time—and I hope I can tell him so before he steps off on nothing. Give me a 職業 breaking broncs! Hunh!"

Now he smoked 静かに, satisfyingly, 製図／抽選 long meditative breaths through the little brown cylinder. The lines around the taut 屈服する of his lips 緩和するd perceptibly. He got up, broke small 下落する twigs and stacked them 正確に in the exact 中心 of his placed 激しく揺するs in the ashes, held a match 炎上 刻々と beneath a handful of frayed bark under the twigs, 始める，決める other sticks, one by one, crisscross on the 炎 that leaped and spread. He carried his coffeepot to the spring, emptied it and rinsed it 井戸／弁護士席 and half filled it with water. While it was heating, the マリファナ balanced nicely upon two 激しく揺するs over the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, he got out his 乱打するd little coffee mill, filled the hopper 十分な of the roasted beans and ground vigorously with his good 権利 arm, the mill gripped between his 膝s. Twice as much as he usually ground for himself alone, but he 手配中の，お尋ね者 the brew 二塁打 strength to-day.

There was need of haste, of course, and yet there was time enough to 残り／休憩（する） for an hour, he knew. In the 直面する of his inner 勧める to hurry, hurry, he 軍隊d himself to take this hour 静かに, letting マイク graze at will. They both needed the 残り／休憩（する）. Moreover, he had gathered that "big 薬／医学" was to be made that afternoon at Butch's place. Milt and all his men would probably be there, working out 詳細（に述べる）s of their 計画（する）. This afternoon his only danger lay in some 孤独な 狙撃者 始める，決める to watch for him—and even a Lazy Ladder man could only be in one place at a time. He wouldn't look for 半導体素子 Bennett away 負かす／撃墜する in here. And as for the fancied 干渉 with his outfit—井戸／弁護士席, that was probably some of that darned Polly Taylor's work. It would be kinda funny if she didn't come nosing around, looking for him. He never saw such a girl.

Yet his 注目する，もくろむs brightened in spite of him when he met her as he 現れるd into the main canyon and was stopping on a patch of shale 激しく揺する to take the cowhide off the horses' feet. She 棒 up and sat looking 負かす／撃墜する at him in disapproving silence, while he tied the pieces of hide under the canvas on Jeff's pack.

"I suppose," she said at last, "you think you're 存在 smart, scurruping off like this with that arm of yours."

From under his gray hatbrim 半導体素子 looked up at her. "I couldn't very 井戸／弁護士席 scurrup off without it, could I?"

"You didn't have to scurrup at all," Polly retorted, pinching a smile in at the corners of her red mouth. "I'd like to know what you think you're doing, away off 負かす／撃墜する here."

"Yes? I rather 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd as much." 半導体素子's smile was calculated to infuriate her and it almost 後継するd.

"いつか," she 観察するd darkly, "I think I shall have to choke you, or brain you with an ax, or put strychnine in your pancake 乱打する, or something."

"The ax, please," 半導体素子 made his choice unmoved; "and be darned sure you make a good 職業 of it or I'm liable to resent it."

"You'll stay where you belong, if I ever start in on you," she 約束d. And then her トン changed as he finished and swung up on マイク, reining in と一緒に her. "Been taking a leaf out of Milt Cummings' 調書をとる／予約する, I see. I hope you 設立する out all you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know?"

"Certainly. I usually do, don't I?"

"Depends on how much you want to know." And suddenly she shivered exaggeratedly. "I do wish the 勝利，勝つd would change out of the north," she complained. "I've been frozen for a month."

半導体素子 gave her a quick surprised ちらりと見ること before he understood. It was a hint for him to 雪解け out, but perversely he would not take the hint. If she wouldn't butt into his 事件／事情／状勢s all the time, maybe he . . .

"Pa wants you to come straight on 支援する," she told him, breaking into his thoughts. "He says you'll get yourself killed, if you don't look out, riding around in these breaks the way you do, with a hundred chances to potshot you."

"And how about yourself? I should think your dad would tie you up if you can't be kept on the ranch any other way." He looked at her, frowning. "You're taking long chances, if you only knew it."

"Not as long as you take. Milt wouldn't bother me and you know yourself that Butch wouldn't let anybody touch me." She drew in her breath, looking at him queerly. "His bunch is 支援する from 運動ing those horses south," she said. "At least, Snuffle （機の）カム in from Cow Island and said they were all ギャング（団）d in at Lang's, drinking and 賭事ing. A dozen or more strangers, he said, besides the men that were here all winter. Looks like he means to do a land-office 商売／仕事, breaking horses to sell. Are you going to work for him?"

"That," said 半導体素子, "remains to be seen." It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Polly something of what he had heard; as if it might be safer to pass on what he knew to the first person he saw.

But he did not, and for a 推論する／理由 he could not やめる understand. He did not want to worry Polly. Stealing sidelong ちらりと見ることs at her, as they 棒 味方する by 味方する, he felt an 半端物 願望（する） to keep trouble and worry far from her; keep her saucy and smiling and 勇敢な and never let her guess what terrible knowledge was in his mind.

"Besides," Polly said irrelevantly, breaking the silence between them, "Dad said if I had any idea どの辺に to find you, I'd better bring you in. He said Milt had men on the prowl, and you'd get in 安全な, as long as I was with you."

Her トン challenged him to biting 憤慨, but in that moment 半導体素子 was only conscious of old Shep's shrewdness and was 感謝する.

"井戸／弁護士席, if you're 任命するd 護衛," he said dryly, "better shake that cayuse of yours up a little. The sooner we get in, the better I'll be pleased."

And Polly could only look at him in blank amazement, wondering what had come over him.

But 半導体素子 knew. For the next few hours his life, as he saw it, was about the most precious thing north of the river and it had to be 保存するd. After to-night—井戸／弁護士席, he'd stack up just about as high as any other bone-長，率いるd cowpuncher, he guessed, and if somebody put his light out, he wouldn't be 大いに 行方不明になるd.

XIX. — "IT'S LIFE AND DEATH, POLLY"

SUPPER was ready in the Taylors' big kitchen, and Polly in her 全体にわたるs, and with her hair braided 負かす／撃墜する her 支援する, was taking up fried eggs expertly with a thin old （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する knife and cuddling them into all the spaces and hollows on a 抱擁する platter of fried ham. From under his straight dark brows 半導体素子 watched her, without seeming to do so, and snubbed her with a frigid politeness when she brought the platter first to his 肘. And for that, Polly deliberately 流出／こぼすd a 減少（する） or two of boiling hot coffee on his 手渡す when she later made the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs, refilling empty cups. The 復讐 was robbed of its sweetness, however, when 半導体素子 辞退するd to flinch or to move so much as a finger. And from this, one may gather that their relations were perfectly normal and 半導体素子 was himself again.

Along the kitchen 塀で囲む, behind the door, eight ライフル銃／探して盗むs leaned, 議会s 負担d and with the magazines 十分な as they would 持つ／拘留する. The ninth, which belonged to 半導体素子, stood behind the door in the living room. And that was for a 推論する／理由 which he kept to himself.

He was the first one through. As he 押し進めるd 支援する the stool which served for the end of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—his place by the 当局 of Polly's mother, she having a care for his sore arm—his ちらりと見ること traveled 速く 負かす／撃墜する the line of 激しい, 吸収するd, feeding 直面するs bent over their plates. Unlike the boys of the 飛行機で行くing U, these men ate without speech, minds wholly concentrated upon the food before them. His lip curled a little at the animal 陳列する，発揮する of them as he stood there fumbling a pocket for his smoking 構成要素.

He was playing for time until he could 会合，会う old Shep's 注目する，もくろむ. But Shep was hungry after a 十分な day in the saddle and he was busy. 半導体素子 turned away, passed の近くに to Polly and gave her a 審議する／熟考する 軽く押す／注意を引く. Polly almost dropped the plate of piled 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s she was carrying to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, she was so surprised. "Come to me," said 半導体素子's 注目する，もくろむs when she looked up at him, and he went on into the other room.

Within two minutes she was there, breathing a little 急速な／放蕩な, a 紅潮／摘発する in her cheeks and starry question in her 注目する，もくろむs. She stood with her 支援する against the door and looked at 半導体素子, where he leaned against the fireplace, rolling a smoke. "井戸／弁護士席?"

半導体素子 drew a match across a jutting 激しく揺する, held the 炎 up where it cast a flickering glow on his thin dark 直面する. "Can you get your dad in here without 殺到ing that bunch of long-horns out there?" In spite of himself, his 発言する／表明する hinted at dark things untold.

"Why, of course!" She left the door and （機の）カム 速く toward him. "They aren't so wild as all that." She stood before him, watching him light his cigarette. "You did find out something 負かす／撃墜する there. What did you find out?"

"Plenty. Go get your dad before he goes out. He （機の）カム in so late I didn't have a chance—"

"He's just started on his pie. He'll fill his 麻薬を吸う before he gets up from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He always waits and smokes till Ma's through eating. I'll tell him then. What did you find out?"

半導体素子 looked 負かす／撃墜する at her, his 注目する，もくろむs 軟化するing in spite of himself. "Nothing to worry you about—" And he caught himself on the 瀬戸際 of tenderness, "—and curiosity killed the cat, remember."

"Oh! Of all the mean, despisable—" She stamped a foot.

"Yes, I know that song by heart. Trot along and do as you're told, why don't you?"

"I won't!" But she 撤回するd that. "If it wasn't important, maybe, I wouldn't go a step."

"But it is important. It's life and death." It was a slip and his look 証明するd it.

"And you won't tell me?"

"No."

"It seems," she said 激しく, "that I 港／避難所't earned your 信用／信任—or any consideration even."

His 直面する whitened a little. "You know better than that. This is a—it's something for your father and J.G. to settle. I've no 権利 to tell anybody but them. I—it's too—it goes away beyond you and me, Polly. We don't 削減（する） any ice at all. I wish you'd go get your dad. He can do his smoking in here, for once." He looked at her so that she turned her 注目する，もくろむs away. "This isn't a time to squabble over words," he said almost gently. "After I've done what I've got to do—I'll tell you the whole thing."

She gave him one long look, turned and left the room without a word.

Old Shep （機の）カム, cuddling the bowl of his 麻薬を吸う, his 注目する，もくろむs two boring questions. And, "What you got on your chest?" he 需要・要求するd. "Know anything new?"

"Yes. You and I are going to ride over to the 飛行機で行くing U to-night. I'll take my outfit along and leave it there. I won't be needing it any more, I guess."

Old Shep took his 麻薬を吸う from his mouth, held his whiskers out of the way and spat into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "What'n hell's happened?"

"Nothing—yet. Tell Snuffle you'll be 支援する to-morrow, and one man on guard will be enough to-night. Or 非，不，無 at all. Let them think everything's riding along about the same."

"Ain't it?" Shep stabbed the question into 半導体素子's 手段d speech.

"Just about, only I don't think there'll be any trouble for a day or two. And say, take Blink Roberts along with you. Make any excuse you want to—but take him along and don't let him know where we're 長，率いるd for."

"Dammit, I don't make excuses to my men," snapped Shep.

"控訴 yourself. That's up to you." 半導体素子 rubbed out his cigarette against the 激しく揺する and flipped the stub into the 炎. "Better take Blink on some errand with you, and I'll come along and ask which way you're riding, and 招待する myself along, as far as you happen to be going my way." His cheeks darkened as the 血 急ぐd in. "I don't go much on 私的な theatricals," he 追加するd, "but not knowing just who might be up on the 縁, or—" he flung out a 手渡す "—just how the cards 嘘（をつく） here, it's best to make the play natural and not excite anybody's curiosity."

Shep drew a long breath through his 麻薬を吸う. "Why yuh want that feller Blink Roberts in pa'ticular?"

半導体素子's look told nothing. "井戸／弁護士席, he's a good man to have along, isn't he?"

"S'提起する／ポーズをとるd t' be. Come an' boned me for a 職業 and give a good account of hisself, so I 雇うd him."

"井戸／弁護士席, take him. I—I want him along, that's all."

Shep 注目する，もくろむd him thoughtfully. "Any 推論する／理由 why yuh can't 流出／こぼす what yuh know?"

半導体素子 shook his 長，率いる. "Only, it's a long story and I want you and J.G. to hear it together." He ちらりと見ることd out the window. "We せねばならない get started before dark," he said. "We don't want this to look mysterious to anybody that might be 利益／興味d."

He had thought this all out, 重さを計るing and deciding during the long ride in with Polly. Now he was aware of Shep's 不賛成—almost his disgust at 存在 asked to make foolish mystery and go riding off without knowing why. He couldn't 非難する Shep if he 辞退するd to 動かす away from the ranch without knowing why. Almost he was tempted to tell what he knew; almost. But there was the danger that Shep would want to 行為／法令／行動する alone, go off half-cocked with his seven men. . . .

Shep grunted and swore and deluged the feebly 燃やすing juniper roots. But he did not finish his 麻薬を吸う before he was gone from the room and telling his wife she could look for him 支援する いつか to-morrow, for he was going on up to the 飛行機で行くing U and she was not to peddle the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to any one, not even Snuffle.

The play went 今後 as 半導体素子 had planned it. He let the two ride off while he was fussing with his pack, then trotted his horses to 追いつく them, while they were still in the coulee. He thought that Blink Roberts looked curious and even a little perturbed, and he caught the man ちらりと見ることing up at the eastern 縁 more often than any save a 脅すd man would do, or one who had a special 利益／興味 in the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. But no signal was 試みる／企てるd—indeed there was nothing Blink could かもしれない know that would be of 即座の 利益／興味 to any watching enemy, except perhaps the fact that 半導体素子 Bennett was riding off with his pack horse and his pet colt; and that any man on the 縁 could see for himself.

It was a touchy half mile and 半導体素子 was glad the 影をつくる／尾行するs lay so dark beneath the hill and that the willows along the creek blurred the 輪郭（を描く）s of any riders along the 追跡する. Until he caught the 上向き ちらりと見ることs of Blink, he hadn't realized how 罰金 a 的 he would make nor the 危険 he would run. But it seemed that the 縁 was for the time 存在 （疑いを）晴らす of 秘かに調査するs. At any 率, they left the coulee and turned into the Whoop-up 追跡する going north, and no 弾丸 （機の）カム 捜し出すing him out.

There on the level the fading glow of sunset gave a stronger light and he could 熟考する／考慮する the man they called Blink Roberts. An unobtrusive type; at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する an hour ago, 半導体素子 had tried to guess which man の中で the strangers was Blink Roberts and never guessed that this was he. Sandy-haired, with a roundish 直面する reddened by riding all day in the sun, and a pair of 穏やかな, light blue 注目する，もくろむs and a 赤みを帯びた mustache. He looked, 半導体素子 thought, like a nester who would keep a dirty stable and raise a 群れている of kids, with a wife who always put too much saleratus in her 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s. As he 棒 beside old Shep, his 強化するd 脚s thrust his stirrups out 今後 and they 解除するd and fell with the 動議s of his horse. Limber 半導体素子 Bennett, graceful as a young Indian in the saddle, curled his lip at such awkwardness.

But two guns were holstered on Blink's 十分な cartridge belt and the 在庫／株 of his ライフル銃／探して盗む sticking out of its scabbard under his stirrup fender showed the 示すs of use. He chewed タバコ with a slow, 審議する／熟考する working of his jaws and winked his light eyelashes every time his teeth clamped 負かす／撃墜する. He seemed to have a 広大な／多数の／重要な capacity for silence, for he never spoke a word or betrayed any 利益／興味 whatever in the 旅行. He just chewed and spat neatly off to the 味方する, and 棒 along, keeping his thoughts—if he had any—to himself.

A stolid, 害のない type except in a fight, to look at him. But there was his 指名する, spoken familiarly in that group by Big Butch's stable, and there was the 声明 that they could leave it to Blink. Leave what to Blink? The 殺人，大当り of 半導体素子 Bennett? But Big Butch liked him, 半導体素子 knew. He hadn't spoken so enthusiastically of Milt's grudge. Leave Blink to some treachery of his own, the giving of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） perhaps?

Whatever it was, 半導体素子 was not sorry that Jeff and little Silver gave him a natural 推論する／理由 for bringing up the 後部. In all that long and silent ride, 半導体素子 held his gaze upon the 薄暗い moving 人物／姿／数字 of Blink Roberts and wondered what was in the man's mind. Whatever it was, it certainly failed to 含む a 疑惑 of the knowledge hidden behind the 厳しい 直面する of the 静かな young fellow behind him.

And so they jogged along the rutted 追跡する, three silent riders and a pack horse and a flaxen-maned yearling colt, looking at peace with their world and with themselves, in no 広大な／多数の／重要な hurry to get where they were going.

XX. — A FINE SCHEME COOKED UP

A DEPRESSED feeling of utter 失敗 caught 半導体素子 unawares as they 棒 up the creek into 飛行機で行くing U Coulee, lying so 静かな under the 星／主役にするs, with the young moon just 事情に応じて変わる backwards over the western line of hills. What he had decided was the wisest 計画（する） he could 工夫する suddenly became no 計画（する） at all, or at the best a cheap gallery play. The truth was, he had 星／主役にするd too long at Blink Roberts' 支援する. He began to wonder what he was going to do with him when they reached the ranch and he wished to 雷鳴 he had left him 支援する at the Hobble-O where he belonged.

支援する there it had seemed the only sensible course to take. Old Shep and J.G. had to get together 権利 away—no two ways about that—and 半導体素子 had been afraid to leave Blink on the ranch. No telling what he was supposed to do or what might happen. For all he knew, it might be Blink's 職業 to 燃やす Shep out. And there were five other strange men for Snuffle to keep an 注目する，もくろむ on...No, the safest way was to bring Blink along, he guessed.

But what was he going to do with him now? He wished he had told Shep more about it. But there again he had felt he would be taking too long a chance of the thing 漏れるing out. Shep would maybe have 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 扱う the thing alone...No, the best way was to bring Shep and Blink over to the 飛行機で行くing U. Thank the Lord, he knew this bunch to a fare-you-井戸／弁護士席. If he could 扱う the first few minutes all 権利, without tipping his 手渡す too much to Blink, or letting Blink pull anything, he'd be all 権利.

Just the same, he hated the r?e he had given himself. If they gave him the laugh—if they didn't take what he told them and let it go as it lay...It did sound pretty darned far-fetched—as if he'd had a 麻薬を吸う dream of some 肉親，親類d.

They were at the corrals now. In spite of his worry, it was like coming home. There was 疲れた／うんざりした's 最高の，を越す horse, a buckskin called Fiddler, calmly munching hay in the corner he always appropriated for himself, even at the cost of much squealing and biting. There were the other horses he knew—a night horse apiece for the Happy Family, as if they were 用意が出来ている to 開始する and ride at a moment's notice. Milt Cummings was the 原因（となる） of that, he knew. The significance of that string of 最高の，を越す horses in the corral at night heartened him, gave him the 保証／確信 his 疲れた／うんざりした 神経s needed. His tired shoulders straightened as his chin went up. Come hell or high water, the 飛行機で行くing U was a solid 塀で囲む at his 支援する. You bet your 甘い life.

"I'll leave my horse outside," said Blink—the first words he had spoken on the trip. "He'd raise hell with all them strange cayuses in there."

Shep grunted some unintelligible reply to that. 半導体素子 was inside, pulling the saddle off マイク. Some of the other boys would drag the pack off Jeff, he was thinking. Now that he was home again, he felt as though every problem he had could be left to the other boys. His 職業 was almost done. He had to tell them what he knew—after that, he could roll in his 一面に覆う／毛布s and sleep the clock around.

It was, in fact, the first really relaxed moment he had had since that 風の強い day more than a month ago, when he and 疲れた／うんざりした had first discovered the butchered beef. Walking up the path to the bunk house his stride lengthened perceptibly. It wasn't so late yet, he was thinking. Couldn't be much after ten o'clock. And though the lights were out, maybe the boys weren't asleep yet. Or if they were, it didn't 事柄 much.

The other two walking 選び出す／独身 とじ込み／提出する behind him, 半導体素子 went into blackness only a little lightened by the starry squares of windows. From a 井戸／弁護士席-known corner, 疲れた／うんざりした sat up 星／主役にするing at 半導体素子's 直面する lighted by the lamp, as he 始める，決める the chimney within its 厚かましさ／高級将校連 guards.

"Mamma! Where'd you 減少（する） 負かす／撃墜する from, 半導体素子?"

長，率いるs bobbed up, profane exclamations of surprise filled the long low room; vituperations 投げつけるd at 半導体素子 in トンs of affectionate welcome made him grin while he swore 支援する at them.

Then he sobered. "Get up, you 塀で囲む-注目する，もくろむd yahoos. I'll go get J.G. over here. . . ."

"What's broke loose now, 半導体素子?"..."What's eatin' on yuh?"

To these and other questions 半導体素子 made no reply. Again he was feeling わずかに foolish, as if maybe he should have done this 異なって. Calling a 集まり 会合 like this before he'd open up with what he knew—he was going to feel like seven 肉親，親類d of a fool when he got ready to speak his piece, if they didn't believe him. They'd maybe think he was crazy. いつかs he 肉親，親類d of thought so himself.

But he went doggedly on with his 職業. He'd tell them—they could do as they pleased about believing him. Damn it, he wasn't 責任がある the way it was going to sound. . . .

J.G. gave him a strange 意図 星／主役にする from his bed, then without a word he reached for his pants. "Milt on the rampage again?" And when 半導体素子 shook his 長，率いる, J.G. grunted something under his breath and followed to the bunk house, buckling on his gun as he went. Not that he would need it, but because habit goes on with the 決まりきった仕事 of dressing when a man's thoughts are どこかよそで.

The Happy Family, half dressed and looking owlishly uneasy and curious, sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of their rumpled beds and rolled cigarettes while they waited. By the rough board （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する old Shep sat （人が）群がるing タバコ into his 麻薬を吸う, his 直面する a lined mask above the whiskers. And by the door Blink Roberts moved aside when 半導体素子 and Jim Whitmore （機の）カム in.

"I was に引き続いて some 跡をつけるs this morning, 負かす／撃墜する in that canyon where I 選ぶd up those horses last summer," 半導体素子 began, without 序幕 or 陳謝. "Struck the 追跡する Milt's ギャング（団） had made with those cowhide boots, getting over this way from the Lazy Ladder and 支援する again. Or I thought I had. I followed it through an ungodly mess of 乾燥した，日照りの washes and little gulches and 深い gorges, to where it forked, and I took the 権利-手渡す fork. My horse heard something ahead, so I left him and climbed up the 味方する of that 割れ目 in the hill I was に引き続いて, and I （機の）カム out where I could look 負かす／撃墜する on Big Butch's corral and the 前線 part of his stable."

"Thought you said it was the Lazy Ladder," Cal Emmett blurted.

"I thought so myself till I got where I could see. Butch was 負かす／撃墜する there by the stable, talking to some fellows that had just ridden in, evidently. They hunkered 負かす／撃墜する and proceeded to mill over their 事件／事情／状勢s—" His ちらりと見ること moved from old Shep to J.G. "I thought you folks better hear about it 権利 away."

With fingers that shook a little, he started to roll a cigarette, gave it up and held タバコ 解雇（する） and papers clenched in his 手渡す. The flesh on his thin 直面する seemed to harden and 縮む, like the 直面する of an old man. His 発言する／表明する, too, was 厳しい and had a husky 公式文書，認める when he spoke.

"They've got a 罰金 little 計画／陰謀 cooked up; Butch and the Lazy Ladder and most of—井戸／弁護士席, all of the Cow Island bunch, as 近づく as I could tell—"

"Figurin' they'll （警察の）手入れ，急襲 this outfit, ay?" J.G. 心配するd shrewdly. "I been wonderin'—"

"（警察の）手入れ，急襲 hell! They've got their sights raised to 殺人，大当り you off, wiping out the 飛行機で行くing U and the Hobble-O and all the nesters scattered up and 負かす／撃墜する the creeks—make a clean sweep, that's all!" 半導体素子's 発言する／表明する 割れ目d on the last words. "They're going whole hog. Then some of their 無法者 friends from 負かす／撃墜する Wyoming way will 追跡する in cattle and horses and 別館 all the 範囲. They're 人物／姿／数字ing on having what Butch calls an 無法者 楽園. They've got men lined up in 乾燥した，日照りの Lake—up there somewhere, anyway—to 保護する them on the north, and with Cow Island keeping 一致する on the river, they'll be riding high, wide and handsome from the 耐える Paws to the Missouri."

"The dirty sons—uh guns!" swore Shorty, only that is not just what he said. "And what do they 人物／姿／数字 we'll be doin' all this time?"

"占領するing your six feet of earth," 半導体素子 told him succinctly. "All that beef stealing was to pull the 飛行機で行くing U into a 捨てる with the Hobble-O. Milt did his damndest to cook that up. Then they'd jump in and do a little 狙撃 in the 支援する. They didn't give a cuss whether Shep and Snuffle got hung or not. If they could have got J.G. and Shep locking horns, and all this outfit killed off in the fight, word would go out that the two outfits had fought to a finish. And they'd make sure that J.G. was one of the 死傷者s. . . ." He flung out a 手渡す in the expressive gesture he used to 招待する one's imagination to finish a picture for him.

"井戸／弁護士席," slow-witted わずかな／ほっそりした 明言する／公表するd ひどく, "it didn't work, by golly!"

"It didn't the other night, 簡単に because Milt took the bit in his teeth and thought he'd open the ball with a lynching bee. The 天候 turned off warm and he 人物／姿／数字d the Hobble-O was through 運ぶ／漁獲高ing out beef—and then he was sore too, because you fellows wouldn't 始める，決める into the game with him. Butch cussed him out plenty for 存在 too previous." 半導体素子 bit his underlip, trying to 安定した it.

"What for 計画／陰謀 they got now?" J.G. 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know. "You happen to hear?"

"Enough to fill in the gaps. A lot of gun 闘士，戦闘機s （機の）カム up from the south and they're at Butch's place. A lot more have been drifting in to Cow Island. I gathered there's about twenty or more, all told. Then the Lazy Ladder has been 雇うing a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up 乗組員 too, the last couple of days." He slanted a meaning look at old Shep. "To-morrow night there's going to be a big setting at Butch's. They're going to lay their 計画（する）s then as to just how the play is to be made. But I got it straight enough that J.G. is to get his ticket about the first thing. 乾燥した，日照りの-gulch him, I guess. That would leave the 飛行機で行くing U without a boss—nobody owning the 在庫／株 or having any 当局 to go ahead.

"Butch told the fellows—strangers, they were—all about the 飛行機で行くing U, and how it's the 重要な ranch of this country, north of the river. He said J.G. didn't have any 親族s and he said"—半導体素子 stopped to swallow—"he said when Jim Whitmore was 設立する with a 弾丸 in him, that would be the time to clean up on the nesters. And while that was taking place, all you fellows would be taken care of—leaving the nesters, I suppose, for the last, and stringing them up for a bunch of 卸売 殺人，大当りs they didn't do. He said it would be a cinch to put the 非難する where it would do the most good."

"That's やめる a 契約," some one 発言／述べるd, in a grim トン.

"And surprise is the essence of their 契約," 半導体素子 said, with a 荒涼とした 肉親，親類d of humor. "I don't know just how they mean to go about starting, now that Milt has tipped his 手渡す. Butch was plenty sore about that. It would have been all 権利," he 追加するd laconically, "if it had worked the way Milt 推定する／予想するd. They'd have put the 非難する on the 飛行機で行くing U and then the Vigilantes would have cleaned up this outfit, and half the 職業 would have been done. That's the way Butch 手配中の，お尋ね者 to work it, but he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to wait till this new ギャング（団） pulled in. Now—"

"Now," old Shep snarled interruption, "they got the Hobble-O to reckon with. I've got seven fightin' men at my 支援する. They better not overlook that fact!"

"Butch said leave it to Blink Roberts—" 半導体素子 could have bitten his tongue in two for the 失敗, but the words were out. He ちらりと見ることd 速く at Blink, gave a sharp cry of 警告 and reached for his gun.

"You damn fool, this is how it starts!" Blink shouted, and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from his hip as he jerked the door open. While their eardrums still rang with the roar of his forty-five, he slammed the door behind him and ran.

Some one was on the 床に打ち倒す and 半導体素子 jumped over him and caught the door while it still quivered from Blink's hurried 出口. His 弾丸 sped after the 逃げるing 秘かに調査する, caught up with him and whirled him half around, breaking his stride. But he did not go 負かす／撃墜する. He ran on, shouting 支援する 悪口を言う／悪態s, emptying his six-shooter at the lighted doorway.

XXI. — ONE SPY THE LESS

THE Happy Family 急ぐd like 殺到ing bronchos through the bunk-house door and gave chase. Ahead of them ran 半導体素子, 狙撃 at the 逃げるing 影をつくる／尾行する and calling 支援する to the others as he went.

"Get him—don't let him get away—It's all my own damn fault—" He つまずくd, tried to catch himself and pitched 今後 as the others tore past.

A wave of nausea that was partly mental 掴むd him when he 試みる／企てるd to 回復する his feet and go on. He wasn't 攻撃する，衝突する, or if he was, he couldn't tell where. It was a 下落する root or something of the sort that had caught his toe and tripped him. His ankle 傷つける with a sickening 苦痛—but more than that, despair had him by the throat. That he could have forgotten Blink Roberts and the part he was to play seemed incredible. Yet it had happened. His mind had held nothing but the horror that was 存在 hatched. He had given Blink the cue to shoot some one and go 警告する Butch and Milt.

Like hounds on hot scent, the boys were giving tongue 負かす／撃墜する there by the corral. An orange flower blossomed by the stable as a 射撃 粉砕するd through the 不明瞭. Another and another. Then silence, followed by murmurous sounds. A match 炎 ゆらめくd, went out. A second glow cupped between palms bent low, lighting something on the ground. Horses in the corral were snorting and there was a trampling of feet as they 殺到するd across to the さらに先に 盗品故買者.

In the doorway behind 半導体素子 the querulous 発言する／表明する of J.G. called out impatiently, "Git 支援する here, some of you fellers! I want some help here! Don't take more'n a 連隊 to ketch one man—Shorty! Somebuddy go git some hot water! Daw-gone it—"

安定したing himself against the 塀で囲む, 半導体素子 moved toward him giddily, his 膝s still unaccountably wabbling under him. He remembered now, some one on the 床に打ち倒す had almost tripped him. "Is—any one 傷つける?"

J.G. craned 今後, peering through the gloom. "That you? Yuh 攻撃する，衝突する?" He reached out a 手渡す, got 半導体素子 by the shoulder as he swayed. "Git in here! My Lord, if some of them crazy loons don't show up—What's the 事柄?" His blue 注目する，もくろむs looked 黒人／ボイコット and piercing as he 星／主役にするd into his youngest cowboy's 直面する. "You're white around the gills as a dyin' fish."

"I—I don't know...I'm—just—sick. I—"

"About time you 洞穴d in. Daw-gone chump—don't know when to やめる . . . What you think you are—a gove'ment mule or somethin'? There. You lay 負かす／撃墜する there an' behave yourself." He gently propelled 半導体素子 limping to the nearest bunk and 押し進めるd him 負かす／撃墜する upon it. "If there ain't men enough in this outfit to take a holt now and 扱う this 職業, daw-gone it, I'll go 雇う me some real 手渡すs."

半導体素子 only half heard him. In a vague and dreamy fashion he knew that he was on Shorty's bunk, and と一緒に it there seemed to 嘘（をつく） a 広大な 湾 of velvety blackness into which he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to slide so that he could sleep. Never in his life had he 手配中の，お尋ね者 anything so much as to let go all 持つ／拘留するs and sleep forever.

But he couldn't do that. A nagging 犯罪 and a 責任／義務 held him to the bunk. He mustn't slip over the 辛勝する／優位 into the blackness. He had let Blink Roberts shoot some one and get away—負かす／撃墜する to tell Butch and Milt the 飛行機で行くing U outfit was wise to their hellish 計画／陰謀. He had a terribly （疑いを）晴らす picture of Blink 負かす／撃墜する there at the Big Butch cabin, 流出／こぼすing the news. He had to go after Blink and bring him 支援する—in a minute, when he had 残り／休憩（する）d a little.

It was his fault that Blink got away. Killed J.G.—or no, he guessed it wasn't J.G. either, because he heard him 断言するing. 断言するing at him, because he had made a damned mess of things. What ever got into him, to tell everything before Blink? He guessed he thought the boys would 得る，とらえる Blink—or—if he weren't so damned sleepy, he'd know why he forgot that Blink was standing there by the door, wearing two guns—Blink wasn't such a hell of a bad man or he'd have 虐殺（する）d the whole 作品. . . .

In a minute he'd have to go bring him 支援する. It was up to him—he was the one who played 権利 into Blink's 手渡すs. But that bunk—there was something the 事柄 with it. He kept slipping over the 辛勝する／優位...Polly made it that way just for devilment. It was hard to hang の上に—or maybe he didn't have much of a 支配する on himself. Seems like he hadn't slept or 残り／休憩（する）d for a month—and his damned arm aching like the toothache . . .

Some one was talking—説 they got him. Got who? If he could just get a 支配する on something, so he could 解除する himself up where he could find out—find out...Big Butch was a Judas—扱う／治療するing him like a long-lost brother, and all the time planning to 大虐殺—kill off all the honest men...Make an 無法者 楽園, hunh?...He'd show Butch—tell him he had another think coming...In a minute, he would—just as soon as he could...He was 負かす／撃墜する so far now...so far he couldn't even hear who it was they had got. Butch, maybe—the Judas . . .

So 半導体素子's rambling thoughts—if such they could be called—drifted off into oblivion, and he slipped over the 辛勝する／優位 into a 深い, dreamless sleep of exhaustion.

Six feet away from him J.G. and Shorty bent together over another bunk where Shep lay with his lips pulled so tightly together his whiskers stood straight out. His 注目する，もくろむs were squinted half shut, 星／主役にするing up into the 直面するs of the two and trying to read their minds. Shorty held a pan of pinkish water smelling 堅固に of carbolic 酸性の, into which J.G. dipped a torn corner of clean flour 解雇（する）.

Shep's 味方する was 明らかにするd, surprisingly white and smooth save where the ugly torn 穴を開ける in 前線 showed ragged lips from which the 血 seeped 断固としてやる. At the 支援する, through several インチs of stringy muscle and tissue, a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する little 穴を開ける, bluish around the 縁, received scant attention.

"You hadn't oughta 押し進めるd in between us like that," Jim Whitmore 不平（をいう）d, his 発言する／表明する gruff to hide his emotion. "Little more, and all hell couldn't 'a' saved yuh. One rib's 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd, but I guess your innards was outa the way. Prob'ly glued together like a 餓死するd chicken, and they don't （問題を）取り上げる no room scarcely—you're so daw-gone skinny."

"How's m' 肝臓?" Shep's 発言する／表明する was weak, anxious.

J.G. squinted and considered. "Wel-l, if she lays where she'd oughta, she was outa line with the 弾丸. Don't seem to be nothin' 穴をあけるd bad but straight meat. That rib'll have to knit before you can git around much."

"Just when I'm goin' to be needed!"

"半導体素子," said Shorty ひどく, "had oughta told us about that feller. Didn't you know, Shep?"

Shep shook his 長，率いる. "Only what the kid hinted. Said I'd have to fetch Blink along with us. He never said why."

"Damn poor 管理／経営, looks like to me," Shorty 非難するd. "Left him standin' 権利 there, where he had the 減少（する） on the 船体 bunch of us. Biggest wonder in the world he didn't make a killin' in here."

疲れた／うんざりした （機の）カム in, looked 負かす／撃墜する at Shep for a minute, and turned to where 半導体素子 lay slack, one 脚 drooping over the bunk's 辛勝する／優位. He ちらりと見ることd across at Shorty. "You're a mile off, Shorty. A bigger wonder is that this sick kid here got 負かす／撃墜する in to Butch's place and got out again with all the 麻薬 on their 計画（する）s, and then got up here with it and brought Blink along. Hell, he ain't endowed with omniscience, is he?" And when Shorty's 直面する went blank, he 明らかにするd the 声明: "You couldn't 推定する／予想する 半導体素子 to think of everything and read a man's mind at the same time, could you?"

Shorty grunted. "All I'm thinkin' is, that dirty hound come within an エース of killin' J.G. He would of, if Shep hadn't 押し進めるd in between."

"半導体素子 done all 権利," J.G. told them gruffly. "My fault as much as anybody's. He told me on the way in here what-fer coyote he'd brought along. I was so worked up over the 船体 cussed 計画／陰謀 I forgot to keep an 注目する，もくろむ on Blink. Daw-gone it, Shorty, don't go blamin' 半導体素子 any."

"Hell, I ain't blamin' him," Shorty recanted. "I was just sayin' it's a damn の近くに call for more'n Shep, here. Might of cost us dear."

Others were coming in, anxious over Shep and trying to appear casual and unalarmed. "井戸／弁護士席, we got 'im, by golly," わずかな／ほっそりした 明言する／公表するd ひどく, looking around as if it were news to all save himself. "Big Butch sure will wait a long time for any spyin' from that there jasper. Say, who's got his guns an' belt?"

By the bunk, 製図／抽選 off 半導体素子's boots as if he were disrobing a dead man, 半導体素子 lay so inert, 疲れた／うんざりした looked up and 攻撃するd his 長，率いる toward the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the window. "Over there. He sure was heeled for 耐える, all 権利." He looked at 刑事 Bird, 抱擁する and helpless in his diffidence, standing 近づく by. "Catch 持つ／拘留する of him, will you, Dickybird? Raise him up so I can get his coat off without maulin' that game arm."

As if he were 扱うing a child, Dickybird 解除するd 半導体素子's 長，率いる and shoulders in his 武器. "Didn't git 攻撃する，衝突する again, did he?"

疲れた／うんざりした shook his 長，率いる. "Just all in, I guess. 罰金 large day he's had. Maybe we better take a look at that arm while we're about it. What yuh think?"

"I've got some salve that's awful good," Penny volunteered. "Swab some of that on, why don't yuh? Helps the itchin' when a 弾丸 穴を開ける starts to git 井戸／弁護士席."

"Dig her up, then. Won't do any 傷つける to 非難する some on."

J.G. turned around from Shep's 病人の枕元, pulling 負かす／撃墜する his sleeves. "Ted and Penny, you go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up a team and hitch 'em to the bed-wagon," he said, in the トン of a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up boss. "Pile in lots of hay and 一面に覆う／毛布s—we better 運ぶ／漁獲高 Shep home b'fore daylight. I want the 残り／休憩（する） of you fellers to saddle up and go pass the word around amongst the nesters. Them that's got families, tell 'em to bring their folks here. With （軍の）野営地，陣営 outfit, so they can be comf'（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する." He looked at Shep for 確定／確認 and received a nod of 是認.

"My place is too—の近くに to trouble," Shep explained. "Better have 'em here."

"Get Johnson, Pilgreen—all them fellers that's moved in on the creeks, and up in the draws this 味方する uh the 耐える Paws. Tell 'em what's bein' cooked up for 'em 負かす／撃墜する in the Badlands and git 'em here, quick as the Lord'll let 'em come. Tell 'em it's their funeral as much as ours, and we need all the men we can git."

"If you can make out alone here, J.G., I'll go along," Shorty was reaching for his ライフル銃／探して盗む.

"Sure, go along. Daw-gone it, it'll take every man on the ranch to git the word around before mornin' and not 行方不明になる anybody. And say! Make it plain that we don't want no inklin' to git outside. You remember what 半導体素子 said about their havin' men scattered around up this way—乾燥した，日照りの Lake and so on. That's how Shep happened to git let in, hirin' one of their men unbeknown to him."

Shep 解除するd a 手渡す. "They're liable to 行方不明になる Blink to-morrow, if they're watchin' my place," he pointed out. "They might be expectin' him to 会合，会う 'em somewhere—with what he'd 選ぶd up."

"All he 選ぶd up is about four hunks of lead, by golly," わずかな／ほっそりした gloated.

"They'll think it's funny if he don't show."

"They'll think some other things is a damn sight funnier," J.G. snorted. "井戸／弁護士席, you （死傷者）数 off the riders, Shorty. Make a circle—two by two. Might be all 権利 to ride alone, but we ain't takin' no chances we don't have to."

"半導体素子 took a chance and 棒 alone," 疲れた／うんざりした commented, with a 味方する ちらりと見ること at Shorty.

"Hell, I wasn't diggin' my 刺激（する）s into 半導体素子 in p'ticular," Shorty answered the look. "No need givin' me the bad 注目する，もくろむ—I know he's a go-getter all 権利 and that they don't come any gamer than that kid. Just the same, if that feller Blink had been の上に his 職業, this woulda looked like a slaughterhouse in here. It sure was takin' an awful chance, what I mean. I don't 支援する 負かす／撃墜する from that."

Since he was their boss under Jim Whitmore himself, no one took up the argument. Even 疲れた／うんざりした, jealous for 半導体素子's 栄誉（を受ける） though he was, knew that Shorty spoke the truth and said no more about it. It was an incredible 失敗 and one that no normal man would ever have made.

"He was dead on his feet when he got here," J.G. summed it up in his querulous 発言する／表明する. "Daw-gone it, I don't want to hear no more about it." His トン changed as the Happy Family （人が）群がるd toward the door. "That feller way up next the mountain—git him too. Tell 'em all to 霧 over here quick as they can make it—like the Injuns had broke loose off the rese'vation er something. We got to move 急速な／放蕩な—make that plain to 'em."

"Darn 権利," Shorty nodded from the doorway. "You goin' 負かす／撃墜する with Shep?"

"No," said J.G., "I'll be here. Ted and Penny'll be enough to git him home, all 権利. There won't be anything break loose till after to-morra night, prob'ly."

"井戸／弁護士席, all 権利. We'll have the nesters 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up by daylight or we'll know the 推論する／理由 why." And Shorty の近くにd the door behind him—softly, in deference to the sleeping boy and the old man who had taken the 弾丸 meant for another.

XXII. — MAKE READY FOR WAR

WHILE the Big Dipper wheeled its slow majestic march 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the North 星／主役にする, 半導体素子 lay drugged in the bottomless pool of sleep. And while he slept, the message he had brought out of the Badlands took life and form in the brains and 団体／死体s of men and drove them 前へ／外へ upon grim 商売／仕事 through the night.

While he lay as moveless as the dead, the cluck of wagon （機の）カム up from the corrals and 中止するd for a space outside the bunk-house door. Ted Culver's 発言する／表明する, subdued but 持つ／拘留するing 厳しい 当局 in its トンs, admonished the restless sleek team that did not want to stand still but 支援するd and sidled, cramping the 前線 wheel against the wagon box. "Stand still, you 塀で囲む-注目する，もくろむd, 大打撃を与える-長，率いるd thus-and-so's!"

Walking carefully to and fro, into the cabin and out to the wagon standing there, blurred in the 冷気／寒がらせる starlight, 一面に覆う／毛布s were spread upon crisp fragrant hay of last summer. An impish gusty 微風 caught a 一面に覆う／毛布 corner from Penny's 手渡す, snapped it like the pop of a whip. The uneasy horses jumped ahead and both men swore, Penny clawing for the high spring seat to 安定した himself, Ted Culver leaning backward, feet wide apart on the ground, sawing with the lines.

"Make that damned team stand still, can't yuh?" hurrying Penny snarled, angry because he had come 近づく 落ちるing.

"Not while you go poppin' 一面に覆う／毛布s behind 'em," Ted snarled 支援する, 追加するing profane phrases born of worry.

Penny replied in 肉親，親類d and finished his careful bedmaking. As he climbed 負かす／撃墜する, he spoke from a wider experience than Ted's. "Say, you better unhook them broncs till we git him in and bedded 負かす／撃墜する. Liable to raise hell with him, if the horses git to cuttin' up just when we're loadin' him in."

"Why didn't yuh think of it before the damn buzzard-長，率いるs pulled both 武器 off?" Ted 不平（をいう）d and 行為／法令／行動するd upon the suggestion, Penny helping.

They 負担d Shep in, 解除するing him carefully in a 一面に覆う／毛布, J.G. in the wagon, 安定したing the 処分 of his shrunken, 苦痛-racked 団体／死体 upon the springy hay. "Better rustle a coupla fur coats to spread over him. It's goin' to be 冷淡な as all git-out, ridin' 支援する here. He ain't got the 循環／発行部数—"

"I'm hot as hell-解雇する／砲火／射撃 権利 now!"

"Might feel that way now, but you could ketch 冷淡な in that 味方する just the same."

He spread two 激しい coats, tucked in the 一面に覆う／毛布s, 押し進めるd up the hay beneath Shep's 長，率いる into a snug hollowed nest. Penny and Ted were hitching up the team again.

With the night 微風 roughing his graying hair around the bald 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, J.G. climbed 負かす／撃墜する and went to where Penny was hooking the 強く引っ張るs of the nigh horse.

"You got plenty of ca'tridges, Penny? 'Tain't anyways likely 't you'll be （性的に）いたずらするd, but you want to be ready. If you have any trouble at all, it'll be after you 攻撃する，衝突する the Hobble-O coulee."

"I'll sure keep both 注目する，もくろむs peeled, J.G."

And around on Ted's 味方する—"運動 careful, Ted. And you boys git 権利 支援する here. Better tell Snuffle and the bunch what's up—Shep's liable to be out of his 長，率いる when yuh git there. Tell Snuffle to stick の近くに to the coulee to-morrow and wait till I give 'em orders."

"How is he, J.G.?" Ted's lowered 発言する／表明する 問い合わせd.

"Perty bad off, to my way of thinkin'. Bad place to git 発射. Mis' Taylor's good as a doctor, though. 井戸／弁護士席, you better git goin'. Careful how you 攻撃する，衝突する the bumps, now!"

He climbed up a wheel, peered 負かす／撃墜する at the 負傷させるd man. "How yuh comin', Shep? Lay'n all 権利 and comf'（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する?"

"I'm—all 権利. Long as they git me home—"

"They'll git yuh home, all 権利. 井戸／弁護士席, so long—see yuh later, Shep."

Long after the wagon and the two cowboys 味方する by 味方する on the high spring seat had 合併するd with the night 影をつくる／尾行するs 負かす／撃墜する by the corral, J.G. stood abstractedly gazing 負かす／撃墜する the way they had gone. When the 動揺させる of the wagon 負かす／撃墜する the creek 追跡する was stilled by distance, and the silence seeped in again and filled the coulee to the 縁, and only the 不明瞭 and the brilliant pattern of 星／主役にするs remained, he turned and went inside, groping abstractedly for his 麻薬を吸う in his pocket.

Already on the high benchland, over bald 山の尾根s, 負かす／撃墜する into coulees and creek 底（に届く）s the boys of the 飛行機で行くing U were galloping, two (n)艦隊／(a)素早い riders here, two more スピード違反 in another direction, another couple riding north to the 山のふもとの丘s of the 耐える Paws—wherever the venturesome small ranchers had nested their cabins in a 避難所d 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where there was water fit to drink and where a little wild hay could be 削減（する） and stacked to 料金d a saddle horse, a team—perhaps a milk cow or two. In the last year or two, a dozen or so had moved in within riding distance of the 飛行機で行くing U. And these must be 警告するd of the monstrous 乱暴／暴力を加える 存在 plotted.

Some had wives, two or three were feeding young mouths precariously, while they got a foothold on the 範囲. Several were bachelors living like hermits in some secluded coulee. Most of them were honest fellows; but if they now and then ate "slow elk" it was only when necessity drove them to poach upon their neighbors, and Jim Whitmore made no quarrel over what he could only 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う.

It was the women who furnished the surprises that night.

"Who'll do the milkin' and take care of the chickens, if I go traipsin' off over to the Flyin' U? My land, it ain't like an Injun 大虐殺, is it?"

"No, ma'am, I guess it ain't that bad. But Jim Whitmore kinda thought you'd be 脅すd to stay alone for a coupla days maybe—"

"脅すd, my foot! If I was 脅すd to stay alone, I wouldn't be here in the first place. Don't I stay alone all durin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up time and when my man is off puttin' up hay?"

"J.G. thought maybe it'd be safer at the Flyin' U till we get this thing settled."

"井戸／弁護士席, my 良心! Ain't you fellows goin' to keep that 哀れな ギャング（団） of cutthroats busy fightin'?"

"Yes, ma'am." (This was 疲れた／うんざりした.) "We sure hope to."

"井戸／弁護士席, then, seems to me the safest place for me is 権利 to home, where I belong. They ain't goin' to have time to come larrupin' away off over here. And if they do—井戸／弁護士席, get Big Butch in 前線 of the old shotgun and I couldn't tell him from a chicken 強硬派. You go on and clean 'em up. You don't have to worry a mite about me."

At every cabin it was the same. Called from their beds and their sleep, the nesters listened and turned to 選ぶ up ライフル銃／探して盗むs, buckle on their cartridge belts, and their 刺激（する）s. But the women's thoughts flew to the cow, the chickens, the pigs. Perhaps an 早期に calf in the sod-roofed stable tipped the 規模. They would not leave, but hurried their men off into the night, 猛烈な／残忍な-注目する，もくろむd because of what 脅すd their lives and their homes.

Goin' to be strung up for killin' Jim Whitmore, huh? Have the word go out that the 耐える Paw nesters were starting a 範囲 war against the 飛行機で行くing U! Why, 雷鳴! How would any of them ever get through the winter, if the 飛行機で行くing U didn't give 'em work through the summer? What the devil would they want to start fightin' against their own bread and butter for? They saddled and 棒, ライフル銃／探して盗む across their thighs. Cowboys, most of them; 範囲-常習的な men, every one.

Patsy's pet Plymouth 激しく揺する rooster, bestirring himself on his roost 敏速に at two o'clock in the morning, stood up in the dark of the henhouse, shook the 罰金 ruff on his neck and sent his sonorous call out into the night. "Oo-oo-oo-o-oo-OOO-OOoo!"

The first of the nesters were just riding 負かす／撃墜する over the coulee 縁 on the north. "Gettin' along toward mornin'," said one. "Roosters crowin'—we made good time."

"Wonder if they 人物／姿／数字 on startin' the ball rollin' to-day?"

"Search me. The sooner the quicker, far as I'm 関心d."

"Yeah. Same here. They got their gall, all 権利. But d' yuh know, Jim, if nobody'd got wise to their play, they coulda made it stick, all 権利."

"You're damn tootin' they could. Wonder how the Flyin' U got next to it!"

"Search me. There wasn't no time to find out. They just 棒 up an' give me the word and pulled out."

"Same here. They 手配中の，お尋ね者 me to hitch up and bring the old woman over here to stay. But, hell, you couldn't git her off the ranch with dynamite."

"They'll never git this far up, anyway. Not with old J.G. on his hind 脚s, waitin' for 'em."

Below them the coulee lay 法外なd in silence threaded by the bell-（疑いを）晴らす crowing of the old speckled rooster. Over their 長，率いるs as they 棒, the Big Dipper stood tiptilted. 職業's 棺 twinkled diamond 有望な.

"Wonder how many Big Butch has got?"

"Shorty never said. 輸入するd some from 穴を開ける-in-the-塀で囲む, chances is. That's where Butch come from, they tell me."

負かす／撃墜する in the corral a horse whinnied. A door—J.G.'s-opened; light streamed out.

"Damn fools, they'd oughta blow out the light before they open that door."

From 負かす／撃墜する the creek a man whistled a shrill, rather 複雑にするd run of 公式文書，認めるs.

"That's 疲れた／うんざりした Davidson. I know that whistle," the one called Jim 発言／述べるd, as he touched a 刺激（する） to his horse. "All serene so far, by the looks. I guess the ギャング（団） is still powwowin' 負かす／撃墜する at Butch's."

"We'll give 'em something to powwow about!"

"You bet your 甘い life!" And when 疲れた／うんざりした's call was repeated, he answered it with a cowboy yell, the Yip-yip-yoeee of the 飛行機で行くing U. Up on the （法廷の）裁判 behind him faint echo sounded. Behind that still another shrill yell. Like wolves when the 追跡（する）ing call goes ululating out under the moon, from far and 近づく wraithlike 略章s of sound （機の）カム drifting into the coulee. A yip-yip, the thud of galloping hoofs, the far-off chuckle of the wagon returning.

It was a 無謀な thing to do. They had 推定する／予想するd to ride in stealthily. The man who 悪口を言う／悪態d because J.G. stood in the doorway with light behind him gave a throaty whoop as he 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d 負かす／撃墜する through the willows and across an 肘 of the creek. 無謀な, and yet it was not without some 手段 of 保証／確信. That first whistle, coming from a rider who had taken the 追跡するs nearest Big Butch's hide-out, had 解放（する）d a 緊張. Without a word it had spread the news that the 追跡するs to the south were yet （疑いを）晴らす. The 動揺させるing wagon 確認するd it. For this night, the northern 範囲 was 安全な.

In the cook house a big hanging lamp blossomed. 誘発するs from 乾燥した，日照りの, 燃やすing 下落する bark floated 簡潔に above the roof. Riders converged upon the saddle-horse corral, calling rough greetings as they 棒 up and dismounted. Penny and Ted drove into the yard, jumped 負かす／撃墜する over the wheel and started to unhitch.

"井戸／弁護士席, how yuh make it?"

"罰金 and dandy. Never had a word uh trouble."

"Shep stand the trip all 権利?"

"Seemed to. 直面する looked all ganted up when we packed him into the house, but he never made any holler or fuss."

Later, to J.G., Penny 報告（する）／憶測d, "Nary a whimper of anything around the Hobble-O. Empty as a line （軍の）野営地，陣営 on Fourth of July. If anybody's night-herdin' Shep's place, they sure as hell never let on they saw or heard a thing."

"You tell Snuffle what I said?"

"We sure did. He said he'd keep the bunch busy shoein' horses and gettin' things 形態／調整d up for spring 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up, till he heard from you. He was certainly surprised about Blink Roberts, but he thinks the 残り／休憩（する） is all 権利. Just the same, he ain't going to 流出／こぼす any news of what's bein' cooked up. Snuffle thinks the safest bet is to watch 'em の近くに and tell 'em nothin'."

"Yeah, Snuffle Jones is a good man 負かす／撃墜する there," J.G. assented. "井戸／弁護士席, roll in and git yourselves some sleep."

That was the order he gave to cowboys and nesters alike, as they arrived. A shrewd man, Jim Whitmore. Because he could not tell what another day might 明らかにする／漏らす, he caught at this 一時的休止，執行延期 and used it to freshen his men and horses. 井戸／弁護士席 he knew that 注目する，もくろむs 激しい with sleep lose something of their keenness, and that tired 手渡すs are いっそう少なく 安定した; 神経s must be steel when these men 直面するd Big Butch.

星／主役にするs paled and the sun rose and looked upon a sleeping ranch. But hidden amongst the 玉石s, on the 縁 that 塀で囲むd the coulee, two men kept watch against a surprise attack, even though it seemed from 半導体素子's terse 報告（する）／憶測 that Big Butch did not 計画（する） to strike so soon. One never knew; and so it would not do to take a chance.

By sunrise every man north of the Hobble-O and south of the 耐える Paws had arrived; fourteen nesters and two grizzled trappers malodorously 布告するing their calling and looking competent to whip a dozen of anything from Big Butch's ギャング（団） to grizzlies. Twenty-three noses around the breakfast （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する wrinkled at the rancid smell of half-cured pelts emanating from these two, though the owners of the noses were careful to make no comment. Trappers are touchy fellows, and these two had fought Indians in their day and were going to be 極端に 価値のある.

"井戸／弁護士席," J.G. 観察するd, as he またがるd a （法廷の）裁判 and sat 負かす／撃墜する to his breakfast, "I guess everybody's accounted for. Fill up—no tellin' when we'll git another chance."

"Yuh going to start 活動／戦闘 権利 off?" some one 負かす／撃墜する at the other end of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know.

Ears pricked up to hear the answer to that, but J.G. took his time, spearing two pancakes の上に his plate and helping himself to meat and potatoes before he spoke.

"The boy that knows the lay of the land ain't woke up yet, and I want he should get his 残り／休憩（する）. When he gits up and I've had another talk with 'im, I'll know better what the 計画（する）s are. Just stick around and take it 平易な—but be ready to jump off the bed-ground at a minute's notice. Pass the molasses, somebody."

XXIII. — CHIP RIDES AGAIN

WITH his 麻薬を吸う 冷静な／正味のing in his palm, Jim Whitmore 星／主役にするd out through his cabin doorway, where the sun shone in straight to 証明する the hour was midday. "There's times," he said, "when bein' 法律-abidin' 関係 a man's 手渡すs and gives crooks all the advantage."

"Meaning this is one of the times?" Sitting on a corner of J.G.'s （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, with his hat 押し進めるd 支援する from his lean 極度の慎重さを要する 直面する, 半導体素子 turned a somber 尋問 gaze upon his boss.

"It sure is. If we was their （土地などの）細長い一片, we could go after 'em 権利 now, on the strength of what you heard. But seein' we ain't 非，不，無 of us 無法者s, we can't just ride 負かす／撃墜する there and string 'em up '原因（となる） they 発射 off their mouths about what they was aimin' to do. C'rell talk's most 一般に 勝利，勝つd. Ain't there some way of ketchin' 'em in some skullduggery er other?"

"井戸／弁護士席, you might wait till somebody bush-whacks you," 半導体素子 told him dryly. "From the way Butch talked, I don't believe you'd have to wait long."

煙霧 thickened between them, J.G. smoked so furiously, "Daw-gone it, you come bustin' into （軍の）野営地，陣営 with a story that'd 殺到 a graveyard—"

"Have you got any 疑問s of its 存在 true?"

"Hell, who's talkin' about 疑問s? 'Course it's true! But that ain't sayin' I know which way to turn. What we'd oughta do," he went on more calmly, "is go 負かす／撃墜する there and clean out the ギャング（団） and do it quick. But there's the daw-gone 法律. Fu'thermore, there's such a thing as 司法（官）. Yuh can't go by talk an' guesswork. So fur, Big Butch ain't never made a crooked move toward us, ner the Hobble-O either."

"No, he's 単に been laying his 計画（する）s to wipe out both outfits and glom all this 範囲 for him and his 無法者 friends. He wouldn't bother with one 殺人，大当り, or even two. What he 人物／姿／数字s on is 殺人，大当り on a big 規模—and have it look as if he was 押し進めるd into it, trying to 支持する the 法律!" Bitter sarcasm was in 半導体素子's look and トン. He finished with a snort of disgust.

"Hear him say just where they 目的（とする） to make a start?"

"No. There was something said about the Hobble-O, but nothing 限定された. That's to be settled to-night, when all of them—those new 輸入するd 無法者s—get in."

"Any idee how many they 人物／姿／数字 on?"

"No, I 港／避難所't. I could find out, though, 平易な enough."

"Hunh?" J.G.'s 長，率いる jerked around as though something had stung him. "Find out how?"

半導体素子 drew in his underlip, raked even teeth across it. His 注目する，もくろむs had suddenly sharpened to an 意図 frowning 星／主役にする. "I could high-tail it 負かす／撃墜する there again and get in where I could see—and hear."

"You could git your fool brains blowed out," J.G. snorted. "If you're that sick of livin', I can have somebuddy knock yuh in the 長，率いる with an ax."

"I wouldn't be taking any 広大な／多数の／重要な chance. I know their secret 追跡する in from the big canyon, where their 無法者 追跡する 長，率いるs through to the east. They won't be using that 追跡する to-night—it was mostly for getting over の上に 飛行機で行くing U 範囲, I think. After dark, I can get 権利 up to the cabin."

"You can stay outa there too!"

"It'd be pickings. The cabin 始める，決めるs 支援する in a thicket of 小衝突 and trees, and there's a little window 始める，決める pretty high—about up to my shoulder. Some ambitious yahoo threw a boot or 解雇する／砲火／射撃d a 発射 or some darned thing—anyway, there's a 穴を開ける about the size of a 女／おっせかい屋's egg in the glass." His lips twitched into a half smile. "I sure would like to pin my ears 支援する outside that window when their big powwow comes off to-night."

J.G. moved restlessly on the box that served him for a seat. "You'd play hell, eavesdroppin' on that ギャング（団）!"

"It's a cinch." 半導体素子's tenseness 緩和するd a shade. With a 純粋に (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 impulse, his 手渡す moved to the pocket where he kept the makings. "I had that all 人物／姿／数字d out last night," he said, and blew a gentle breath into his 調書をとる／予約する of papers, 選び出す／独身ing out a leaf. "I can hear all that's said in that cabin and I can count noses and bring you the 一致する." He began 涙／ほころびing a neat, thin （土地などの）細長い一片 from the paper. "You can—"

"I can hog-tie yuh till you come to your senses, daw-gone yuh!" But by his トン and his look, J.G. betrayed how the idea tempted him. "Anyway, it wouldn't work. Time you got 支援する up here they—"

"Not here," 半導体素子 削減（する） him short. "You could take this bunch to the Hobble-O and wait there. That's the place to work from, anyway. You must have come by a shortcut 負かす／撃墜する over the 縁 the other night—why not have some of the boys 削減（する） over that way again? They can find out if anybody's （武器などの）隠匿場所d up there, watching the coulee, and drag 'em 負かす／撃墜する off their perch."

"Yeah—and then what?" By his トン J.G. was 単に 持つ／拘留するing 支援する his 拒否権 until the 計画（する） was all before him.

"井戸／弁護士席, it's 非，不，無 of my 商売／仕事—you're running this—but if I was doing it, I'd send a few men 負かす／撃墜する there 権利 now, J.G. Nobody's going to get excited if they see a bunch of the boys ride in to the Hobble-O this afternoon; not if there aren't too many and if they ride along like nothing much is on their minds. You, for instance, and two or three more."

"Me, hunh?"

"Yes, you. Nobody's going to take a potshot at you 負かす／撃墜する there—not when they're planning to lay the 非難する on these nesters up this way, when you do 会合，会う up with the hot end of a 弾丸. That'll put you 負かす／撃墜する there where you can take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of things and keep 事例／患者s on what Butch's ギャング（団） is up to." He paused to lick his cigarette into 形態／調整. "Then the 残り／休憩（する） could slip in there after dark." He 始める，決める the cigarette between his lips and 追跡（する）d a match in his pocket. "All you'd need to do then is 嘘（をつく） low till I get the goods on the bunch and pass it on to you."

"They'd pass on your soul to hell," J.G. made 暗い／優うつな 予測. "半導体素子, you know daw-gone 井戸／弁護士席 you wouldn't have a Chinaman's chance, 負かす／撃墜する in there. Sounds all 権利 and you're just crazy enough to 取り組む it if I'd let yuh—but I won't. It's too damn risky."

"Risky?" 半導体素子 gave a short laugh, as he fanned the match 炎 out. "Hell, I've been taking a heap bigger 危険 than that, every day since I started digging into that beef rustling. It was a 危険 when I 棒 into Butch's place and boned him about stealing beef, but I got away with it all 権利."

"Butch was just stallin' you along. He wasn't ready to open up and show his 手渡す. It's different now."

"This is going to be a cinch, I tell you. Why, look! I spent a 十分な week 負かす／撃墜する there. I know that layout 同様に as I do this coulee. I know 権利 where Butch will put a couple of men in the pass—I bet I could show you the 激しく揺するs they'll hide in while they're on guard. And if he's got any 疑惑s of what the Hobble-O may do, he'll put a guard さらに先に 負かす／撃墜する in the canyon. But—"

"It don't make a daw-gone bit of difference how many guards he puts in the canyon—"

"Maybe not, only that canyon is supposed to be the only way into Butch's place. That way I 設立する is their secret 追跡する—so damned secret they always put boots on their horses when they go in or out that way. Unless you knew, you never would find it. I did, because I saw the 肉親，親類d of 示すs マイク made, and 選ぶd out others like them."

"They'll 選ぶ you out, if you don't keep （疑いを）晴らす."

"I beg to 異なる with you there," 半導体素子 replied, with that persistence which made him what he was. "They don't use that 追跡する very often, I imagine. It seems to be a short 削減（する） out east and they duck through that way to get の上に your 範囲 for their rustlings. No 推論する／理由 why any of them should come out that way to-day or to-night—it's the canyon they'll be using and the 追跡する over to the Lazy Ladder. They won't put a guard out 支援する, because they don't know anybody is wise to it. It won't enter their 長，率いるs that any one will come in that way."

J.G. 転換d his position again. "井戸／弁護士席, if you got the hang of readin' their minds," he 不平（をいう）d, "they's no use goin'. You can 始める，決める here and make a guess at what they're cookin' up."

半導体素子 grinned in spite of himself. "I may seem to think I'm a hell of a feller," he drawled, "but I'm willing to 収容する／認める there's a 限界 to my smartness."

"Y' don't say!"

半導体素子 紅潮／摘発するd darkly. "One thing I do know. I can get in there and find out how many men they've got, and when they're going to open the ball, and how. And I can get out again. Looks to me," he 追加するd はっきりと, "as if that's pretty damned 決定的な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. But, of course, 存在 only about half-witted, that's just my fool notion."

"Don't be a daw-gone chump," growled J.G. "You better take somebuddy along with yuh, if you're hell-bent on goin'."

Having 伸び（る）d his point, 半導体素子 stood up. "I don't want any one. Two'll make just twice as much 動かす outside as one. Moreover, I can hear as much as two, and if I don't get 支援する—"

"If you don't get 支援する outa there," said J.G., also on his feet now, "if they glom yuh, we won't know no more'n we do now what's goin' on."

"If I don't get 支援する," 半導体素子 repeated 刻々と, "they'll know the 飛行機で行くing U is wise to them, and you'll have to move quick. You'll need every man you've got." He 解除するd his hat, 再定住させるd it on his 長，率いる, pulling it low on his forehead for hard riding. "I'll be 支援する, though. You can look for me at the Hobble-O いつか between midnight and daylight. All depends on how long-winded they are 負かす／撃墜する there."

"A gov'ment mule's got nothin' on you for stubbornness," J.G. 観察するd dissatisfiedly, but the look in his 注目する，もくろむs belied the 批評. "You're takin' the bit in your teeth—"

"井戸／弁護士席, I've kept all four feet under me so far."

The older man walked to the door, looked out at the men roosting on the corral 盗品故買者 just 負かす／撃墜する the slope, turned and （機の）カム to a stand before 半導体素子. He took his 麻薬を吸う from his mouth, looked into the bowl as if the ashes held the words he 手配中の，お尋ね者.

"I'm a daw-gone fool," he said savagely. "I'd oughta let yuh go get yourself in a jackpot and git out the best way you can. Or let you take your 薬／医学 and scratch your 指名する off'n the 支払う／賃金 roll. But damn it, 半導体素子, I knowed your folks and I knowed you when you wasn't 膝-high to a grasshopper. You ain't got anybody but me to ride herd on yuh and—daw-gone it—"

半導体素子 did a most unusual thing, one he would have called silly at another time いっそう少なく freighted with 苦悩. He 解除するd a 手渡す and laid it across J.G.'s shoulder as though this was his father or his brother, worried over the danger he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 直面する.

"I know," he said softly. "Same here, J.G. You've been more like a daddy than a boss. I guess we both know about how we stack up to each other." He paused, 製図／抽選 in his breath with a faint sigh.

"You're like my own kid—if I'd ever had one," J.G. muttered fretfully.

"And I've got to go and get the facts 負かす／撃墜する there, because—it's you they're planning to wipe out. You and your outfit." His 手渡す slid away from the other as he moved toward the door. "It'll save argument with some of the boys if you call them all up here for a talk," he said in his ordinary, 事柄-of-fact トン. "Just 同様に if I don't have the whole bunch next to what I'm going to do."

J.G. looked at him, gave a grudging nod. 半導体素子 was ten feet from the door when the final word （機の）カム. "If you ain't showed up at the Hobble-O by the first 割れ目 uh 夜明け, we'll be 負かす／撃墜する there after yuh. And God help 'em, if we do that!" he 追加するd half to himself.

Over his shoulder 半導体素子 sent him a quick boyish smile. "I'll be drifting in いつか after midnight—and if I don't have the deadwood on that bunch, it'll be because their mouths are riveted shut and they can't talk. You can bank on that, old-timer."

After a 十分な twelve hours of sleep, he walked with the stilted stride of high-heeled riding boots, his shoulders 支援する and the 空気／公表する of 保証／確信 conjured by his words. At the bunk-house door he paused to shout 負かす／撃墜する to the corral:

"Hey, you fellows! Get a move on, 負かす／撃墜する there! J.G. wants to see you."

"All of us?" Shorty called 支援する, as he and some others slid 負かす／撃墜する off the 盗品故買者, more getting up from the ground and 小衝突ing 負かす／撃墜する their pants with the flat of their palms.

"Yeah, the whole bunch," 半導体素子 yelled, and went into the cabin to wait, while all the footsteps went 軍隊／機動隊ing past. When the last soft thudding sound receded up the path, he （機の）カム out again, his ライフル銃／探して盗む lying in the crook of his arm.

XXIV. — POLLY PLAYS LADY

THE two women of the Hobble-O were busy in the kitchen when Jim Whitmore knocked at the door. Or, to be exact, Polly was busy making 乾燥した，日照りのd-apple pies, and her mother was hushing her fretful yearling on her shoulder, in the hope of 説得するing him to sit on the 床に打ち倒す with a tin pan and big アイロンをかける spoon and bang it happily, so that she might "look over" a mess of beans and get them to parboiling. The other youngsters had long since been taught to keep out from underfoot and were playing upstairs.

With her 解放する／自由な 手渡す, Mrs. Taylor pulled open the door and smiled welcome. "井戸／弁護士席, come 権利 in! Shep's been askin' for you and worryin' because you didn't show up this mornin' 有望な and 早期に. Seems—uh—how-de-do?" she finished with vague politeness, seeing that the big, 板材ing fellow with the Dutch 直面する and a sagging paunch was coming in behind Whitmore.

"Mis' Taylor, I brought my 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up cook along to take a 持つ／拘留する here and give you women a breathin' （一定の）期間," J.G. answered her look of 調査. "Patsy by 指名する—and a cookin' fool. The 残り／休憩（する） of the boys and about a dozen more'll be along perty soon, and there's a pack-負担 er two of grub on the way. We're makin' this our （警察，軍隊などの）本部 for the time bein'. You woman folks （疑いを）晴らす out now and roll 負かす／撃墜する your sleeves. Patsy'll 扱う the kitchen while the （人が）群がる's here."

"You pet my life," grinned Patsy. "Cooking for hungry punchers iss my yob, alreatty. You go 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する und 残り／休憩（する） yourself, Mis' Taylor. I cook you goot grub, py colly."

"You bet your boots he will, Mom. I had some of his cooking and I know," Polly 宣言するd, 小衝突ing flour from her 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 武器. "井戸／弁護士席, here's the piecrust and filling all ready for you, Patsy. 飛行機で行く at it. I'm going to play lady 今後."

Though she laughed when she said it, her 注目する，もくろむs turned anxiously to the window. "Did—did all the boys come 負かす／撃墜する with you, Mr. Whitmore?" she asked, in what she believed a casual トン. "I—suppose they'll all be here for supper."

"Yeah, most of 'em, I guess. All but 半導体素子. 井戸／弁護士席, maybe I better not bother Shep 権利 now, Mis' Taylor—not if he's asleep or anything—"

"Land, he ain't slept a wink and he won't, till he's had a chance to talk things over with you. The man's about distracted, bein' laid up at a time like this. Come on in and see him. It'll do him a sight more good than layin' there frettin' and worryin'."

But Polly forestalled her. "You go take the baby and 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する, Ma, and maybe he'll go to sleep. I'll take Mr. Whitmore in to see Dad." And though her mother 辞退するd the 高級な of lying 負かす／撃墜する in the daytime, she did 産する／生じる to the extent of 残り／休憩（する）ing in the big old-fashioned rocker, 持つ／拘留するing the baby on her （競技場の）トラック一周 and hushing his fretful whimpering.

So Polly had her chance to listen while the two men talked. It was not until J.G. had finished, however, that she had anything to say.

"I believe I know where that secret 追跡する leaves Goodwater Canyon, Mr. Whitmore. I should think you'd want to have some of your men there, ready to start 活動／戦闘 the minute Butch makes a move. He must have a lot more men than we have, and if he once gets out of Fishback on the warpath—"

"井戸／弁護士席, 半導体素子's goin' to find out how many men he's got and what-all he 人物／姿／数字s on doin'," J.G. 根気よく explained. "There ain't been anything but talk, so fur. We've got to have something we can get our teeth in. No use goin' off half-cocked and mebby findin' ourselves outside the 法律."

"No, we can't break the 法律 just because they do," Shep agreed. "Whitmore's 権利. We're forewarned and that's somethin'."

"And in the 合間, if 半導体素子 gets caught—and you don't find out any more—I suppose you'll still go on waiting!" Polly's breath was suddenly uneven, her 注目する，もくろむs suspiciously inclined to blink.

Jim Whitmore's 手渡すs, 残り／休憩（する）ing on his spread 膝s, の近くにd slowly into 握りこぶしs. "If 半導体素子 ain't showed up here by three in the morning, we'll be 負かす／撃墜する there after him," he said grimly.

"A lot of good that'll do him!"

"井戸／弁護士席, he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd there ain't any 危険 at all, skurcely. He said he'd wait till about dark and then git in 支援する of the house and listen by a window that's got a 穴を開ける in the glass. He said there wasn't one chance in a hundred anybody would 位置／汚点／見つけ出す him, and if they did, he'd git away in the 小衝突, 支援する out the way he got in. I guess he's 安全な enough. It'll give us a line on that bunch, so if they do 目的（とする） to start anything, we can （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 'em to it. 半導体素子 ain't nobody's fool. He'll make out all 権利." He was talking to 安心させる himself, for he 追加するd, "半導体素子'll git in there and git out again if anybody can do it. He's like his dad was at his age. There ain't much gits past him."

"井戸／弁護士席, of course, they'll only be about forty or fifty against one, if they do 逮捕する him. He won't mind a little thing like that." Polly's chin went up in the gesture 半導体素子 knew so 井戸／弁護士席. "Still—he isn't invulnerable, you know."

"No, and he ain't goin' to be!" Shep fretfully 宣言するd from his pillow. "I'd 支援する that boy anywhere. やめる your fussin', Polly, and go tell your ma I want her."

"井戸／弁護士席, all 権利," Polly 産する／生じるd with surprising docility and 出発／死d on her errand.

Her mother was just laying the baby 負かす／撃墜する asleep, s-sh-ing and patting his limp little 団体／死体 as she withdrew her 手渡す carefully from under him. Polly waited until the old brown shawl had been drawn up over him, then plucked her mother's sleeve and led her across the room.

"I'm going to take a ride," she 発表するd, when she had 配達するd the message. "For goodness' sake don't tell Pa, or he'll have a fit. It's 安全な enough, with all these men around and more coming. I've just 簡単に got to get outside. And don't go worrying—"

"Where you 長，率いるd for now?" Ma Taylor's 発言する／表明する, though 慎重に lowered, carried strong 不賛成. "I can't have you stramming around the country and maybe getting yourself 発射—"

"Oh, for pity's sake, Ma! There's more danger 権利 here at home, far as that goes, and it certainly is 安全な enough here. I'm just going to 会合，会う 半導体素子, but I may be gone やめる a while, 説得するing him to have some sense and come on in and behave himself."

"Ain't he with the 残り／休憩（する） of the boys?"

"No, he's—flocking off by himself, as usual. I—we had a fight and he's just stubborn. I'm going to try and talk some sense into him, that's all."

"井戸／弁護士席," sighed her mother, "半導体素子's a peculiar boy; a very peculiar boy. You shouldn't talk to him the way you do, Polly. You know he's like a high-spirited horse—he won't stand for 存在 （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 over the 長，率いる. He's proud—"

"（警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 over the 長，率いる!" 匂いをかぐd Polly. "That's something I never tried yet. It might work. Anyway, don't tell folks where I've gone, will you, Mommy? Just say I'm upstairs with the toothache or something. If the boys ever got 持つ／拘留する of the fact I've gone after 半導体素子—井戸／弁護士席, you know."

"I should think you would be ashamed of it," her mother 観察するd tartly. "If you 扱う／治療するd him like a human 存在, you wouldn't have to. You better eat humble pie for once in your life, honey, and get that boy 支援する here where he belongs. And don't forget your ライフル銃／探して盗む, and don't wait to ask questions if you see any strangers prowlin' around. All the 法律-abidin' men in the country are either here on the ranch or they're comin'. Them that ain't is in cahoots with Milt and Big Butch. So 行為／法令／行動する （許可，名誉などを）与えるing."

"I will, Mother. You're sure a brick, do you know that?" And Polly flew to change her 着せる／賦与するs, while her deluded parent went unsuspectingly to 組み立てる／集結する doughnuts and meaty 挟むs in a generous 一括, on the theory that Polly might find the way to 軟化する 半導体素子's pride by tempting his stomach.

Indeed, Ma Taylor 認める it, when she 迎撃するd Polly on the way out. "You take this. You can ketch more 飛行機で行くs with sugar than you can with vinegar, and the poor boy's most likely half 餓死するd for good victuals and wouldn't own it."

"I'm not out to catch 飛行機で行くs or anything else, Ma. I'll tell him you sent it. Don't say anything now, will you?"

"I ain't likely to. If I didn't know you're as 有能な with a gun as your father, and have got about as much sense, I wouldn't let you 動かす a step away from the place. But I do think 半導体素子 oughta be 説得するd to come in with the 残り／休憩（する） of the boys and not hang off by himself like this. 井戸／弁護士席—you git 支援する as quick as you can, Polly."

"I will, Ma."

With her ライフル銃／探して盗む under her arm and her sour-dough coat buttoned under her chin, she would have passed as one of the boys, had any of the strangers seen her go. But the boys, Harvey and Ernest, were busily 追跡するing beef rustlers in a thicket across the coulee and arguing hotly over 手がかり（を与える）s, as their distant 発言する／表明するs 証言するd. The men were keeping inside to-day and a hard-fought game of penny 賭け金 was going on in the bunk house. No one noticed Polly as she walked past the window, on her way to the stable.

Riding out of the coulee past the guard 駅／配置するd behind a rocky hummock gave her a few uneasy moments, but she was careful not to hurry too much and she whistled as she 棒 and looked like a boy on some simple errand, so the guard 単に 星／主役にするd and let her go. Once away from the coulee, she turned into the hills and was lost to sight.

And this was the way in which Polly played lady that afternoon: With her ライフル銃／探して盗む across the saddle in 前線 of her and her 注目する，もくろむs watching everything—but mostly the keen wise ears of her brown horse Pathfinder—she 長，率いるd for the canyon she called Goodwater, taking every shortcut 追跡する she knew—and you may believe that Polly knew them all. And so, riding 急速な／放蕩な as the roughness of the country would 許す, she reached the canyon and followed it to the sandy wash where a 選び出す／独身 line of vague prints, like horse 跡をつけるs weeks old, pointed the way for her.

Those 跡をつけるs were fresher than they looked, as Polly 井戸／弁護士席 knew by 確かな other 調印するs and by her own shrewd 推論する／理由ing. 半導体素子 had ridden that 追跡する not twenty minutes before, though she did not know this, but could only guess that he had already come this way. He had started 早期に in the afternoon, J.G. had said; and while he would have ridden 慎重に, keeping off the sky line of 山の尾根s and に引き続いて the devious course of 確かな lateral canyons and gulches little たびたび（訪れる）d and making time-eating detours, by now he must have reached this point.

And what if 無法者s out to the eastward, those 共犯者s who had received and marketed the beef for Milt, had been bidden to this devil's 議会 to-night? The 血 drained from Polly's cheeks when she thought of 半導体素子 running into them in some 狭くする 罠（にかける） of a gulch. But then she thought they would probably ride first to the Lazy Ladder and come over with Milt, and her breath 緩和するd a little. Perhaps, after all, he would make it 安全に through.

Of herself, her own danger, she scarcely thought at all. Or if she did, it was impersonally, wishing she had had the time to 直す／買収する，八百長をする boots for Pathfinder so his hoofprints in the wash would not so blatantly advertise the passing of a stranger. And she told herself that even if she met some one, she would not be 発射 on sight. She'd just make the time-worn excuse that she was 追跡（する）ing 逸脱する horses—something like that. Be wide-注目する，もくろむd and innocent, 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うing nothing. No one would 傷つける her—she could shoot as straight as any of them, if it （機の）カム to that. But 半導体素子—they were out to get him; kill him on sight. It was a crazy thing to do, riding 権利 in to listen under Butch's window. Crazier even than when he had gone to Butch before and （刑事）被告 him of butchering other people's cattle. Then he had a chance. Now he knew he'd be killed if they caught him.

It would serve him 権利, she told herself ひどく. She wasn't thinking of him, it was her father and mother and the kids she was worried about. And all the decent people north of the river. Why, those nesters had families, some of them. Let Butch and Milt have their way, and a dozen homes would be 荒廃させるd, women and children left to 餓死する, probably, because their menfolks were gone.

Of course it wasn't 半導体素子! It was just that he would probably be killed, and some one had to know what was going on 負かす／撃墜する here. That was all in the world that had brought her. Only for that, she would have stayed at home.

This 存在 the 事例／患者, she 棒 warily, careful to take no wrong turning, に引き続いて those blurred 示すs where they showed. And the soft purple 影をつくる／尾行するs flowed 負かす／撃墜する the eastern slopes into the 深い gorges where she must ride, and her heart and her throat felt as if they were caught in a vise. But she kept on going, and so long as she could see Pathfinder's ears, she knew that she would have 警告 of danger. And she 緊張するd her ears for the sound of 射撃s and counted each minute of that eerie silence as something precious, since it （一定の）期間d safety for that time at least.

XXV. — AT BUTCH'S WINDOW

ALREADY 不明瞭 was creeping in upon 半導体素子, so that only his memory of that obscure and crooked 追跡する held him from going astray and losing himself in those labyrinthine gorges; though マイク too remembered and took the 権利 turns unerringly. In the last 狭くする gulch 半導体素子 dismounted, tied the horse behind a clump of bushes and went on 進行中で, walking carefully, his 刺激（する）s hung over the saddle horn, lest the chains betray him with their clinking against 激しく揺するs.

His ライフル銃／探して盗む, too, was in its scabbard on the saddle. He did not need it now—indeed, it would only be a 障害（者）. If it （機の）カム to fighting, he'd want his 手渡すs 解放する／自由な, and he had his dad's old forty-five with its steer-長，率いる butt. If that wouldn't pull him out of this, nothing would, he thought, as he slipped along, his left 手渡す touching the 激しく揺する 塀で囲む, his 権利 ungloved and swinging 解放する／自由な.

To-night he did not climb the 味方する 塀で囲む, but kept straight on; though not straight, either, since there were three 際立った turns, like crooked 肘s, before he saw the blotchy 影をつくる／尾行するs of trees just ahead. Here he waited, listening and 緊張するing 注目する，もくろむs to see. The 小衝突 hid everything from 見解（をとる）, however, even in daylight, and there were no 有形の sounds save the 勝利，勝つd rustling 明らかにする 支店s in the thicket. There was nothing to be 伸び（る）d by waiting there and he moved on into the blackness of the grove.

It was 井戸／弁護士席 that he did. He was no more than a few 棒s from the 狭くする 入り口 when from behind him he heard 発言する／表明するs muttering indistinctly, Milt Cummings' pleasing トンs rising 際立った above the others. While he shrank 負かす／撃墜する against a 厚い young pine, they 棒 by so の近くに he could have whispered and made them hear. So の近くに that horses shied away from him and were 悪口を言う／悪態d for their skittishness.

"Bet we're late," said one; and Milt's 発言する／表明する answered him arrogantly:

"No, we ain't late. Time to start is when we get there, and don't you forgit it. They can't open the ball without us."

Another 発言する／表明する spoke and some one else said, "削減（する） it out. We're there."

Then, out beyond the little grove, Big Butch called out, "That you, Milt?"

"Sure it's me," Milt called 支援する. "Me and twelve more—good men and true."

"井戸／弁護士席, put up your horses and git in here. The sooner we git started, the quicker."

When they were gone, 半導体素子 解除するd himself carefully away from the little pine and felt his way again toward the cabin, taking slow steps, stopping each time to listen. Once he was almost 確かな that he heard some one behind him, and he froze to attention, 直面する turned toward the cleft. He did not hear the sound again, though he waited some minutes, his gun in his 手渡す.

He was just relaxing, 納得させるd that his imagination had made footsteps out of the whisper and rasp of the 勝利，勝つd in the grove, when a 影をつくる／尾行する 緩和するd away from blacker shade and drifted silently toward him. On the nape of 半導体素子's neck the 肌 強化するd. His gun arm （機の）カム up and 支援する, ready for the 粉砕するing blow that would lay the fellow out and still 避ける rousing the place with a 発射. His 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd, gleamed ruthless in the dark.

Nearer that vague 形態／調整 moved, and then—"半導体素子!" A breathless pause, and "半導体素子! It's me—Polly!" All in a whisper no louder than the sough of the slow 勝利，勝つd through the thicket of young pines.

半導体素子's 膝s buckled. He 設立する himself shaking, his strength gone. Had he walked, he would have staggered, but he stood still, making a soft hushing sound like the hiss of a snake. As she （機の）カム up to him, he reached out and pulled her の近くに against his trembling 団体／死体.

"Go 支援する!" he breathed peremptorily as he bent. "For godsake, what are you doing here? Who's with you?"

Polly leaned within the circle of his arm and 解除するd herself on her toes to reach his ear. "I'm alone. I （機の）カム because—you mustn't be here by yourself. If anything happened—"

"You'll have to go 支援する. You must be crazy." He holstered his gun, furiously trying to think what to do now. "We're within fifty feet of the cabin. Get out of here before somebody sees you. It wouldn't be so funny this time if they caught you."

"They won't. I'm going to stay with you. I—I'm 脅すd to go 支援する now, 半導体素子. A whole bunch of men （機の）カム along just as I had tied Pathfinder と一緒に マイク. I was 簡単に 麻ひさせるd! I had to scrooch in against the 塀で囲む in a 肉親，親類d of niche or they'd have seen me sure. What if I met somebody on the way 支援する out?"

"Serve you damn 権利." So far as it is possible to show 怒り／怒る and disgust in a whisper, 半導体素子 （人が）群がるd them in. "Stay here then. I've got to get the low-負かす／撃墜する on this bunch. And, for the lordsake, keep your nose out of this!"

To that Polly made no reply. He thought she was crying—which she was not—and he 解放（する）d her, admonished her again to stand 権利 there and try and have some sense, and went on, making his way 慎重に toward the rough low muttering of many 発言する／表明するs speaking at once, after the manner of men waiting for a （衆議院の）議長 to begin.

The window he had について言及するd 明らかにする／漏らすd itself as a square of 薄暗い yellow in the surrounding 不明瞭. 半導体素子 辛勝する／優位d up to the cabin corner, flattened himself against the rough スピードを出す／記録につける 塀で囲む and インチd along until the window was just ahead. The hum of talk was louder now, brutish laughter riding the uneven waves of sound. Evidently the 会議／協議会 had not yet started, perhaps because all had not yet arrived. Two or three were enjoying themselves hugely at the expense of one they called Owley, whose horse had piled him that afternoon. There was plenty of 断言するing and ribald witticisms—在庫／株 phrases の中で rangemen which 半導体素子 was thankful Polly was not there to hear.

And then he discovered her の近くに behind him and dared not tell her what he thought of her. She reached out and twitched his coat until he bent his 長，率いる to hear what she had to say.

"Have they started?" she breathed の近くに to his 直面する, and 半導体素子 was 軍隊d to whisper "No!", with his lips almost touching her cheek. And he 追加するd, "Go 支援する!"

"No!" whispered Polly, and 半導体素子 could have shaken her.

No use now to argue the point, though. She was there and he couldn't do anything about it. Whispering outside Big Butch's window was not 正確に／まさに a 安全な thing to do, once that bunch in there stopped laughing at Owley and 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する. Lucky for them, there was a 勝利，勝つd rustling the 支店s; that made it easier to get away with this. But if that darned little Polly didn't keep still . . .

Polly did, though. And 半導体素子's thoughts were コースを変えるd by a あられ／賞賛する 負かす／撃墜する toward the corral. 即時に the talk and laughter in the cabin 中止するd. He 危険d a ちらりと見ること inside, guessing that all 注目する，もくろむs would be turned toward the door which stood in the other 塀で囲む—the one 直面するing south. This window looked east, away from the corral which was to the west.

"It's the Cow Island boys," a man leaned in the doorway to 発表する, and there was a general 動かす, a shuffling of boots on the plank 床に打ち倒す.

半導体素子 had never seen a room so 十分な of men. They were standing—there was no room to sit 負かす／撃墜する. The cabin was built to 融通する ten or a dozen men at a pinch. There must be at least three times that many and more were coming. He heard them walking up the path, their footsteps plainly audible on the 氷点の ground. There were 簡潔な／要約する greetings as the （人が）群がる 転換d to let them in.

"All 始める，決める?" Big Butch's 発言する／表明する was 解除するd, 支配するing the room.

"All 始める，決める," several answered here and there about the room.

"井戸／弁護士席, you know what we're here for, I guess," Butch began. "We've thrashed it out pretty 徹底的な in the last few months. We need more 領土 and we're out to get it in the only way it can be got. This is a 広大な／多数の／重要な country—a damn sight too good to let a bunch of mossback 農業者s and a couple of cowmen glom it all. This is horse country—"

"You said it," some one filled the pause he made, and there were muttered affirmations throughout the room.

"井戸／弁護士席, no use goin' into all that, I guess. You boys was got together here to git your last 指示／教授／教育s, before you kinda scatter out and git to work. But things has changed some. There ain't goin' to be no scatterin', boys. We got to git 活動／戦闘 and git it quick."

"That's the stuff, Butch!" a loud 発言する／表明する unctuously 認可するd. "Now you're talkin'."

"Why the sudden change uh heart, Butch?" Milt Cummings 需要・要求するd in his most sarcastic トン. "Way you bawled me out for tryin' to 速度(を上げる） things up a little—hell, I thought you was goin' to wait and let Shep Taylor and Jim Whitmore die of old age!"

"You thought nothin' of the 肉親，親類d, Milt. You took the bit in your teeth the other night and damn 近づく 流出／こぼすd the 船体 作品 and I called yuh on it. This thing has got to be 扱うd 権利 or we're goin' to be in the soup. And at the same time, some things have come up to-day that I don't like the looks of 非，不，無 too 井戸／弁護士席. Looks like our 手渡す is liable to be 軍隊d."

"Meanin' what?" From the sounds, 半導体素子 guessed that Milt was 押し進めるing in closer to Butch. "Who's forcin' our 手渡す, Butch?"

"井戸／弁護士席, Blink Roberts never showed up to-day, like he was s'提起する／ポーズをとるd to, for one thing. Him and Shep Taylor and the Bennett kid, they left the ranch 'long about dusk yesterday, and nothin's been seen of 'em since. And then to-day, the high mucky-muck of the Flyin' U rides over to the Hobble-O—him and three-four fellers Sam didn't seem able to place. And they ain't left yet; or they hadn't, a couple of hours ago. The girl 棒 off alone, though—支援する in the hills somewheres. Too much ridin' 支援する and 前へ／外へ to 控訴 me."

"Jest millin' around, chewin' the rag, most likely," a new 発言する／表明する commented. "Prob'ly don't mean nothin' much."

"Mebby not. Then agin it might mean a damn sight too much. Git Jim Whitmore and old Shep Taylor together, and I wouldn't put nothin' past 'em. They ain't got no time for me, never had. It's only a 事柄 of just so long till they try an' でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる something on me and my outfit. Prob'ly cookin' up somethin' 権利 now."

There were mutterings and a restless stirring within the room. Strange 発言する／表明するs spoke stranger 感情s. Standing outside that window, 半導体素子—Polly too, since she could not help 審理，公聴会—listened to an amazing discussion of 倫理学. They heard that the Hobble-O, the 飛行機で行くing U and all the nesters in the country were 範囲 hogs, grabbing 権利 and left and always looking for a chance to give these men a raw 取引，協定.

The country had to be cleaned up, no 疑問 about that; and the sooner it was done, the quicker Butch and his friends would 栄える. Why, look how they had （人が）群がるd Butch 負かす／撃墜する into these canyons! Could he 範囲 a decent bunch of horses? He could not. A hundred 長，率いる was his 限界, just about. Why, he could hardly 持つ／拘留する a horse long enough for the brand to 傷をいやす／和解させる, much いっそう少なく hair over. Had to monkey around so much 直す／買収する，八百長をするing brands there wasn't a dollar a 長，率いる 利益（をあげる） any more, hardly.

It was all because of their neighbors. They made that very plain to themselves and to one another; also that they had no 頼みの綱 save to 保護する their own 利益／興味s. 審理，公聴会 them talk, a stranger would have thought that these were the 法律-がまんするing men, banding together to rid the country of a bunch of dangerous 無法者s.

Then Butch once more took the 床に打ち倒す. 明らかに he had let them talk so that he could 計器 もう一度 their temper. His 計画（する）s were settled long ago in his own mind and he was ready now to give them out.

"We're ready to start and there ain't any use waitin'," he 宣言するd, 解除するing his 発言する／表明する so that it carried to the men grouped outside the door. "We 攻撃する，衝突する for the Hobble-O first, glom their guard—my boys knows where he hangs out at the mouth of the coulee—and go in and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up what men's there. Blink's 職業 was to jim all the guns he could git his 手渡すs on, workin' at night. If he's done his work, there ain't goin' to be much trouble.

"Work 静かな as you can. We don't want to croak any women if we can help it—"

"We'll take care uh the women!" some one by the door shouted coarsely and laughed afterwards.

"If we work it 権利, the women won't know what's takin' place," Butch ignored the interruption. "We don't want to git in bad, and botherin' women folks sure raises hell all around. We take the Hobble-O 代表 権利 along with us—"

"Alive?"

"井戸／弁護士席," Butch said dryly, "Live men rides better than dead ones and there won't be no saddles to clean. Sure, alive, if we c'n 扱う 'em. We drift on over to the Flyin' U and ketch 'em bedded 負かす／撃墜する. Make a clean-up there, d'yuh see? And we leave them Hobble-O fellers layin' around artistic, 権利 where they fell—to show who it was jumped the Flyin' U and what happened to 'em. Then we go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する up the nesters, as many as we can git our 手渡すs on, and pack 'em 支援する to the Flyin' U for 証拠 they was in on it too."

"That's やめる a 契約 for one night, Butch," Milt Cummings 観察するd dubiously.

Butch gave a short laugh. "It ain't much of a 契約 for these boys here. Thirty miles of good road to the Flyin' U, and mebby another twenty or twenty-five mile roundin' up the nesters. How about it, boys?"

"Pickin's," a young-sounding 発言する／表明する 麻薬を吸うd up, "if we don't have to lay in the bresh, swappin' lead with somebuddy for a hour er two on the way."

"Nothin' like that at the Hobble-O," Butch 宣言するd. "It'll be a 事例／患者 of ride in, glom every man in sight and ride out agin 静かな. Might have to drag a gun off'n somebuddy's 長，率いる to git him 静かな—nothin' that had oughta take any time a-tall. Call old Shep 負かす／撃墜する to the bunk house—all straight an' simple. If Blink's 支援する, he'll be a big help gittin' old Shep outside. If he ain't, we'll work it some other way."

"What about the git-away?"

"Got somethin' a hell of a sight better'n a git-away. Here's Tom Shaner, 権利 here. Tom, you 精査する on 支援する and tell Barr and the 残り／休憩（する） we're settin' it ahead. It's to-night we're all in his place. Burch'll vouch fer that, all 権利. And if you've got the captain of the Vigilantes vouchin' for yuh," he laughed, "you don't need to worry about no git-away! It's a dead immortal cinch."

"That's 権利 too," the 発言する／表明する that had 問い合わせd assented in a relieved トン. "You're there with the goods, Butch."

"Hell, I've been all winter figurin' how we could git this 範囲 cleaned up," Butch modestly belittled his shrewdness. "Milt makin' that bobble with his lynchin' party kinda knocked my 計画（する） in the 長，率いる, but I dunno as it makes much difference, in the long run. Long as we git the 職業 done, the quicker the sooner, I guess."

半導体素子 had heard enough and more than enough. He turned and put out a 手渡す toward Polly, heard her gasp and つまずく. A dead stick snapped with a 割れ目ing sound.

"Get outa here—quick!" he hissed in her ear, and 押し進めるd her toward the cabin corner, as a vague 本体，大部分／ばら積みの showed ten feet away, coming from the listening knot of men before the door.

XXVI. — POLLY PUTS IT OVER

"世界保健機構'S that?" The man hesitated, took a step 今後 and 停止（させる）d again, as if he were half 納得させるd it were 非，不，無 of his 商売／仕事. "What's the 事柄?"

"Huh? Not a thing in the world." 半導体素子's 発言する／表明する was rough and throaty as he answered. With a 純粋に 直感的に movement, he reached for a match, lighted it and cupped the 炎 between his palms as he pretended to light a cigarette, half turned away from the 勝利，勝つd and the stranger. While the glow did not 明らかにする／漏らす his 直面する, it did 納得させる the fellow that 半導体素子 had nothing to hide. "Got a grand-stand seat here," he 追加するd, carelessly turning 支援する to the window, as the match dropped and he 始める，決める his foot upon it.

With a careless 手渡す he beckoned. "You can see and hear a damn sight better than with that bunch milling around by the door," he muttered. "Come and take a look."

Without hesitation, the man approached. One of the new men from Wyoming, probably. Certainly he was a stranger to 半導体素子. As he 解除するd a 手渡す and 始める，決める it against the 塀で囲む, leaning and peering in through the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 穴を開ける in the glass, the 誘惑 to bring his gun バーレル／樽 負かす／撃墜する over the fellow's 長，率いる was almost irresistible to 半導体素子. His fingers itched to lay the man 冷淡な where he stood.

But that would only 招待する trouble. Some one might hear the 落ちる—they would be almost 確かな to discover him later and know that an enemy had been in （軍の）野営地，陣営.

Inside the cabin 発言する／表明するs were growing louder. Butch and Milt Cummings had locked horns in acrimonious argument over the 実現可能s of 遂行するing so 徹底的な a clean-up in one night. What if the Hobble-O put up a fight? How were they going to make it appear to the world afterwards that Shep Taylor had gone over to fight the 飛行機で行くing U? What if they didn't 位置を示す all the nesters? There were a lot of women—four or five, anyway—that would holler their 長，率いるs off. Butch was plumb loco if he thought he could go hog-wild like that and get away with it.

This and more held the man to the window. And because there seemed some 疑問 of the 結果, 半導体素子 stayed, looking over the shoulder of the other. (A strange and touchy 状況／情勢, and one that would have amazed those inside had they been aware of it.)

Big Butch with his 輸入するd 無法者s easily 支配するd the 状況／情勢. Crazy as the 計画／陰謀 looked, the （人が）群がる was plainly for it, and by its very audacity it might 後継する; or would if they could catch their 犠牲者s unprepared.

The moment Milt gave ground and Butch began 問題／発行するing his orders, 任命するing his leaders—so many men for the 誘拐するing, 確かな others for the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する-up of nesters, another group who would be 責任がある all 一時的な 囚人s—半導体素子 began to 辛勝する／優位 away. He was behind a tree and out of sight when the man at the window 行方不明になるd him and turned to see where he had gone. From the 黒人／ボイコット 影をつくる／尾行するs he watched the fellow crane and look, and when he started toward the 前線 of the cabin, 半導体素子 moved on to the next tree and the next, 用心深い as a wolf and nearly as noiseless.

But when the sounds of 出発 示すd a general exodus from the cabin, 半導体素子 ran as if they were all after him hot-foot. Within the blackness of the gorge he went つまずくing along, heedless of the noise he made. Unless they entered the 狭くする 新たな展開ing gorge they wouldn't hear him, and if they were after him, the noise wouldn't 事柄; they'd know he was ahead of them, anyway.

When he reached マイク, he paused a moment to listen. There was no sound save the soft whooing of the 勝利，勝つd 総計費 and the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of his own 血 in his ears. With his knife he 削除するd the thongs that held the cowhide on マイク's feet (no need of that 警戒 now), 機動力のある and started at a breakneck pace 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する.

How long it would take that 無法者 army to reach the Hobble-O he could only guess, but his guessing 増加するd his 逮捕. Unless they took longer than usual to get under way, they'd be at the Hobble-O in a couple of hours. He'd have to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 their 速度(を上げる）. に引き続いて these damned gulches and canyons would lose time for him; he knew of no short 削減（する）s to the big canyon. Impossible to make it in いっそう少なく than two hours and yet it had to be done.

Oddly, he forgot just how much Polly had heard before he sent her away. He was under the impression that she had stepped on that stick when Butch was 正当化するing himself and his ideas to his men, and that she knew nothing of their 計画（する） to move in on the Hobble-O that night. She had taken Pathfinder and gone home—or at least she had started. But she wouldn't know how 緊急の it was and she would probably fool along, waiting for him to 追いつく her.

マイク knew the 追跡する. If he hadn't, he never could have taken the turns the way he did, snaking around sharp corners of 激しく揺する, tobogganing 負かす／撃墜する 法外な little slides where before he had 選ぶd his way with cow-pony 警告を与える. In those gorges the night was pitch 黒人／ボイコット, but 半導体素子 scarcely gave it a thought. He was going to 追いつく Polly before Big Butch's ギャング（団） （機の）カム up with her. On the last mile or two they would travel the same road...

For the next half hour or more the way was rough. マイク smoothed it with his unfaltering stride. He knew this country. He had a memory of the stretches where a horse could easily break a 脚 if he were not careful, and put them behind him as 急速な／放蕩な as he （機の）カム up with them. There were places too where his master often turned aside into some box canyon or some brushy draw—places マイク remembered perfectly and passed by to-night, as if he knew that something much more 決定的な than nosing into out-of-the-way places was 要求するd of him.

Where the way opened to the Devil's Dipper he slowed a little, not やめる 確かな whether they might be making for that little meadow. A sharp dig of the 刺激（する）s told him to keep going. He went. The Hobble-O ranch then; it was the only other place where his master had gone in a hurry lately, and マイク tucked his ears 支援する flat against his 長，率いる and ran belly to the ground. Whatever was in the 勝利，勝つd, he certainly meant to do his part. He'd give all he had, any day, if this master of his 手配中の，お尋ね者 and needed it.

半導体素子 did. With the 支援する of his mind he knew that he was getting it. He had no quarrel with マイク, yet the pace seemed maddeningly slow. He kept seeing Polly as she had looked, a vague little 人物／姿／数字 there in the dusk の中で the trees. No 商売／仕事 to be there—crazy thing for a girl to do. 煙霧 off 負かす／撃墜する to an 無法者 （軍の）野営地，陣営 like Big Butch's, when she knew he had a big ギャング（団） there making war 薬／医学—just to find out what they were up to!

But he knew better than that, even while he thought it; he knew that was not the 推論する／理由 she went. She went because she knew he had gone, and she had the crazy idea that maybe she could help him somehow; the same crazy idea that had put her 負かす／撃墜する in Fishback canyon with her ライフル銃／探して盗む, ready to fight the whole outfit if she saw he was getting the worst of it.

And now she'd hang 支援する and wait for him to come along, and if he didn't show up when she thought he should, it would be just like her to turn around and come looking for him, even if she had to go in and drag him out of Big Butch's cabin. He wouldn't put it past her. She didn't have a lick of sense about dodging danger, that girl.

マイク slowed for a 山の尾根 he must climb over. Wet to the tip of his ears, he still 工場／植物d his feet with a sureness that carried him 刻々と up to the 最高の，を越す and 負かす／撃墜する the 法外な slope beyond. His muscles worked 滑らかに, his breathing was strong and not too 急速な／放蕩な. He was what is called a stayer—he had need to be, to carry young 半導体素子 Bennett along some of the 追跡するs he chose to ride.

As he （機の）カム out into the 狭くする valley which formed the one connecting link between the Hobble-O and that rough country where Big Butch had his 要塞／本拠地, and さらに先に along opened into Lazy Ladder country, 半導体素子 pulled マイク 負かす／撃墜する to a walk. The horse needed the breathing （一定の）期間, but also the slower pace gave a chance to listen. Here, if anywhere along the 追跡する, he would get some 証拠 of whether he was too late.

Dust hung in the 空気／公表する. He could smell it, or at least he imagined that he could. Whether it was the dust of Polly's passing, or Butch's men, or both, he of course could not tell. Even the 勝利，勝つd might have swept it up into the 空気／公表する. And then he 訴える手段／行楽地d to an Indian trick. He dismounted, knelt and laid an ear against the ground. 即時に he knew that they were coming—or were they going? Unmistakably there was the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 of galloping hoofs, like the distant throb of a small herd running; or of cavalry. The direction, however, he could not 決定する. They might have passed this point already or they might be coming. He couldn't wait there to find out, that was 確かな . All he could do was go on and 信用 to luck.

At least he knew now that Polly was somewhere ahead of him, and as he tore along the 追跡する, he tried to 納得させる himself that Butch's ギャング（団） was behind him; that he 棒 between them and the girl. He'd come up with her pretty quick now, he was sure of that. She hadn't hung 支援する so much waiting for him, he thought, with a perverse sense of 憤慨. A lot she must have cared, after all, （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing it like that without waiting to see what 肉親，親類d of a jackpot she had got him into! He'd have something to say on that 支配する when he caught up with her. The way he'd 煙霧 her home wouldn't be slow—fooling along when that devil of a Butch 吊りくさび was on the warpath. . . .

He caught up with Polly sooner than he 推定する／予想するd. Rather, he met her coming headlong 負かす／撃墜する the 追跡する, 肺ing at him from the dark. Their horses swung wide to 避ける a 衝突／不一致, for they met at a bend in the road. With one impulse they pulled up and reined around, 会合 直面する to 直面する.

"Hey, where you think you're going now?" 半導体素子 cried はっきりと. "Don't you know—"

"Oh, you got away!" gasped Polly. "I've been so worried—but I had to go and 警告する J.G. and the boys. That's what you 手配中の，お尋ね者, wasn't it? But I こそこそ動くd away and （機の）カム 支援する as 急速な／放蕩な as I could, 半導体素子. I was so afraid—"

"You 警告するd them? Did you hear what Butch でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd up to do to-night? I thought I chased you off before he 流出／こぼすd his 計画（する）."

"Of course I heard. I hope you don't flatter yourself I went to please you? Somebody had to get to the ranch and tell the boys what was going to come off to-night, didn't they? It certainly didn't look as if you were going to leave in a hurry, so I hustled home and told them what to 推定する／予想する."

"You sure must have flown."

"I'm riding a horse," Polly told him 意味ありげに. "Besides, I happen to know all the short 削減（する）s. I didn't have to wander up and 負かす／撃墜する all the canyons that happened to 持つ／拘留する an 無法者 調印する—I make time when I want to."

"You sure had better show a 見本 of 速度(を上げる） now, if it's so simple. That bunch is coming somewhere behind us, and not so far behind either, if you ask me. （疑いを）晴らす out. Take your darned short 削減（する）s and go home."

"There aren't any, from here on," Polly 認める. "Why don't you show a little 速度(を上げる） yourself, if they're so の近くに? I don't notice you 涙／ほころびing any bones out, hurrying."

In the starlight he looked at her loping along beside him, a gallant little 人物／姿／数字 on a horse whose 強化するd gait betrayed how tired he was. マイク, too, had used his best 成果／努力 and galloped ひどく; a grunt jarred from him with every leap he took.

半導体素子 looked again at Polly. What shone in his 注目する，もくろむs the 不明瞭 hid 井戸／弁護士席. His 発言する／表明する was as gruff as he could make it. "A man's supposed to ride between a lady and 害（を与える）. Kick that crowbait out of a walk and make yourself 不十分な around here, or it'll take more than my natural chivalry to keep lead from coming your way."

"Sorry, but my horse can't travel one bit faster than yours."

"He'd sure travel if I had the 扱うing of him," 半導体素子 明言する／公表するd grimly. "Don't be a darned chump—get going, why don't you?"

"井戸／弁護士席, why don't you get going yourself? You're not 弾丸 proof, you know."

"Because マイク's given all he's got, that's why," 半導体素子 told her bluntly. "He'll go till he 減少（する）s, but there's no use （人が）群がるing him—he's doing his darndest 権利 now."

"You just want to be ornery and hang 支援する and 選ぶ a fight. You may call that chivalry, but I've got another 指名する for it."

半導体素子 was riding half turned in the saddle, listening. "You hear that? They'll be on 最高の，を越す of us in a minute or two."

"Yes, I hear," said Polly in a squeezed, too 静かな トン.

"井戸／弁護士席, get a move on! Good Lord, don't you know what'll happen, if they ride up on you?"

"On us, you mean. Yes—I know. They—they won't 取り組む two as quick as one, and—"

"There's forty men coming, if there is one. Polly, go!"

"And one of the men is Milt Cummings, just aching to get a chance at you. No, I won't go."

"井戸／弁護士席, come on, then! Throw the 刺激（する）s into that old pelter and come on!"

The new burst of 速度(を上げる） roweled from their horses lasted to the next little hill. Both 揺さぶるd to a walk halfway up; マイク because he could gallop no さらに先に just then, Pathfinder because Polly's 手渡す was 会社／堅い on the reins. She hoped 半導体素子 had not noticed it and she stole a look at him to make sure. Evidently he had not. He was 新たな展開d in the saddle again, 星／主役にするing 支援する 負かす／撃墜する the road as he listened.

Behind them the drumming of many hoofs sounded closer, yet not with any 増加する of 速度 that would 示す 追跡. Big Butch had 始める，決める himself and his men a hard ride for that night, and although fresh horses had been furnished for the work—good horses stolen from ranchers off to the eastward of the Larb Hills—Butch was not setting too 急速な／放蕩な a pace. Probably he was even 持つ／拘留するing them 支援する a little, wanting to give the Hobble-O time to settle 負かす／撃墜する for the night. Certainly they had no 疑惑 that 半導体素子 and Polly 棒 a scant ４半期/4分の1 of a mile ahead; the night was too dark and they themselves were making too much noise for that. But at the 安定した lope they were keeping, they must soon 追いつく the two. When that happened . . .

Each of them knew the answer very 井戸／弁護士席. As they passed over the brow of the hill and マイク 解除するd himself into a trot 負かす／撃墜する the さらに先に slope, 半導体素子 turned his 長，率いる and looked はっきりと at the girl.

"マイク's all in because I 棒 him 負かす／撃墜する from the 飛行機で行くing U this afternoon—and 行方不明になるd all the low places in the road, getting to Butch's hangout. Then I certainly burnt up the 追跡する getting over here. And I didn't know any short 削減（する）s." He put some sarcasm into that last 声明.

"井戸／弁護士席, I know it isn't his fault he has a hard master."

"But there's no excuse for that cayuse of yours," he went on 厳しく. "Riding him 負かす／撃墜する to Butch's and 支援する shouldn't faze him. He's hard. The way you put him over these hills, he's got the 勝利，勝つd of a mountain sheep. I think you're 立ち往生させるing. He isn't as played out as you're trying to let on. So—get going!"

Before she realized his 目的, 半導体素子 snatched his quirt off the saddle horn and gave the unsuspecting Pathfinder two vicious 削減（する）s across the 残余. "Now, damn it, ride!" he gritted, and watched the horse go 続けざまに猛撃するing off 負かす／撃墜する the road, マイク valiantly trying to keep up.

XXVII. — A CHINOOK STRIKES CHIP

A MILE away yawned the mouth of Hobble-O Coulee, its bold 激しく揺する 縁 輪郭（を描く）d against the 星／主役にするs. Half a mile さらに先に, within those 武器, thirty ライフル銃／探して盗むs 十分な fed with 弾薬／武器 grimly waited to do 戦う／戦い. With a fresh horse 半導体素子 would have cared nothing for those 続けざまに猛撃するing hoofbeats behind him. Even now, as マイク slowed and dropped to a walk, he felt only a 深い exultant satisfaction that he had sent Polly on to safety. 支援する there, with her beside him, he had been の近くに to panic.

He had little hope of making the Hobble-O himself. Short as the distance was, he knew it was too long. There wasn't any more 速度(を上げる） in マイク. He had given every ounce and now he was ready to 減少（する）. He was staggering as he walked, 長，率いる drooping, all the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, all the spirit, gone out of him.

With his lips 圧力（をかける）d into a straight line, 半導体素子 slid off, led the horse 負かす／撃墜する into a gravelly wash 少しのd-grown along the 辛勝する／優位s, and pulled the saddle off. A loose horse—no one would give it a second ちらりと見ること as they passed by, even if it were seen. They weren't after horses to-night, he thought 激しく.

With his ライフル銃／探して盗む swinging at his 味方する, he 始める，決める off along the wash, マイク too far gone even to 解除する his 長，率いる and look. He had done what he hated like 毒（薬） in other men—ridden a willing horse almost to death. In a good 原因（となる）; in the best of 原因（となる）s. It could not 少なくなる the 傷つける, for all that. But if he hadn't done it, Polly would have ridden straight into that ギャング（団）. It took just that last 成果／努力 of マイク's to put him ahead of Big Butch and be the first to 会合，会う Polly. So it was 価値（がある） it. Even if マイク laid 負かす／撃墜する there in his 跡をつけるs and died, he had helped save Polly Taylor.

井戸／弁護士席, he had done his part, he guessed, though he would like to take a 割れ目 at Big Butch. They weren't coming on so 急速な／放蕩な. He wasn't 審理，公聴会 any hoofbeats at all now. Probably Butch had pulled up to give his final orders, or maybe to argue something out with Milt. Or perhaps they 人物／姿／数字d they were hitting the Hobble-O ahead of time and were waiting awhile. He might make it in ahead of them, after all.

In the road he made better time, swinging along with his ライフル銃／探して盗む over his shoulder. Imperceptibly the 黒人／ボイコット 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the coulee 縁 drew closer. He had made half the distance when a rider bore 速く 負かす／撃墜する upon him, coming from the Hobble-O. "Darn that Polly!" gritted 半導体素子.

But it was not Polly this time. It was 疲れた／うんざりした Davidson, wheeling his horse in beside 半導体素子.

"Pile on, feller—you sure 選ぶd yourself a poor night for a ramble!" He pulled a foot from the stirrup and 半導体素子 swung himself up behind the cantle.

"Polly get in all 権利?"

"Polly? Her? Say, wildcats is canary birds と一緒に that gal of yours 権利 now. Mamma! I thought J.G. was 予定 to lose all his whiskers when he put his foot 負かす／撃墜する and wouldn't let nobody lend her a fresh horse and come 支援する herself after yuh. I dunno, on my soul, what you do to 'em, 半導体素子—"

"Oh, shut up! Boys ready to give Butch a hot 歓迎会?"

"They sure are. Butch is going to find he's bit off more 'n he can chaw. Got to 手渡す it to yuh, boy—"

"You do your 手渡すing somewhere else. There's about forty men in Butch's （人が）群がる. You fellows don't want to overlook that fact."

"Say, we ain't overlookin' a damn thing. How far 支援する are they, about?"

"Mile, maybe. They must have stopped, 支援する there a ways, or they'd of been on 最高の，を越す of us before now. I thought I heard them coming again just as you 棒 up."

"井戸／弁護士席, let 'em come. You and Polly sure put a crimp in their 計算／見積りs for 'em. We'd all admire to see 'em show up—I tell yuh those."

As they swung into the coulee, a 発言する／表明する challenged them from the 影をつくる／尾行するs. "持つ／拘留する on there! Who are yuh?"

"Mamma! Is that all the long your memory is to-night, Pat Casey? You know darned 井戸／弁護士席 who I am. And seeing as how my horse is packin' 二塁打, you know 半導体素子." 疲れた／うんざりした's トン was bantering.

"Shore, I know. Couldn't take a chance though, could I? I'm s'提起する／ポーズをとるd to make damn shore who comes into this coulee. You heard—"

"Yeah, I heard. 井戸／弁護士席, the sheep's all in the c'rell now, Pat. Next is wolves and they're runnin' in a pack to-night. Let 'em past and の近くに up the gap."

"Shore. How fur 支援する?"

"It ain't how far 支援する, it's how の近くに up, you want to be thinkin' about. Tip the boys off and keep both 注目する，もくろむs peeled."

"I know all that." Pat snubbed him and silence の近くにd in upon the 激しく揺するs where he was hiding.

The two 棒 on, splashed through the creek and loped on up to the corral. Here no sound 迎える／歓迎するd them. The place seemed 砂漠d. "But you can't most always tell," chuckled 疲れた／うんざりした, when 半導体素子 spoke of the 静かな. "This same coulee's filled to the guards with dynamite and don't you forget it!"

He turned his horse still saddled and bridled into the corral, touched 半導体素子 on the shoulder. "We stick together 今後, feller. 負かす／撃墜する here a ways. J.G. says to try and not 攻撃する，衝突する any horses, if you can help it. They ain't done anything, and anyway, they're prob'ly stole off some poor devil of a rancher."

It was the 抱擁する 玉石 beside the 追跡する that 避難所d the two finally—the one where Skelp Turner had waited to pounce on 半導体素子. Memory of that 遭遇（する） brought something else to mind.

"Butch had 警戒／見張りs up on the 縁. What about them, 疲れた／うんざりした?"

"Them? Not a word of trouble outa either one. Some of us boys done an Injun 行為／法令／行動する and こそこそ動くd up on 'em. One got gay and tried to fight the outfit, and kinda got the worst of it. That Sam feller, he managed to 別館 a chunk of lead through his gizzard, and he's up in the house, talkin' wild and scattering. Ma Taylor's 直す／買収する，八百長をするd him up a damn sight better than he deserves. The other one only got what was comin' to him."

"Dead?"

"And then some."

Far 負かす／撃墜する the coulee vague sounds betrayed the approach of riders; the muffled tread of horses walking in sandy gravel, the creak of saddle leather, the clink of bridle chains and 刺激（する）s. Whispers of sound scarcely to be distinguished from the rustle of 少しのd and bush in the 勝利，勝つd.

"They're comin'," 疲れた／うんざりした murmured, as he 転換d his position a little. "When they git up here, we 削減（する） loose."

They waited, fingers crooked on 誘発する／引き起こすs, ライフル銃／探して盗むs looking 負かす／撃墜する the road. "Think they're こそこそ動くing up on men asleep," 半導体素子 whispered. "We can't let them get to the house, 疲れた／うんざりした. There's Polly—and the kids and Shep in bed—"

"Sh-sh—"

A blurred 集まり of 人物／姿／数字s moved toward them, 長，率いるs and shoulders 輪郭（を描く）d against the 星／主役にするs.

"Get busy, you fellows!" hissed a 発言する／表明する above them in the 激しく揺するs, and a ライフル銃／探して盗む 炎上d and 衝突，墜落d behind the two.

A dozen six-shooters answered, 弾丸s 飛行機で行くing wild, as the startled horses 肺d backward on those behind. The roar of 無法者 guns was met and matched as the hillside blossomed with momentary bursts of orange 炎上. In the road, men ripped out blistering 誓いs of astonishment and 苦痛. Some went reeling from their saddles and were kicked or trampled as the horses were jerked this way and that, their riders wanting to get away from there and do it quickly.

"It's a 罠（にかける）!" yelled Big Butch. "Get 支援する, boys! Damn it, get 支援する outa here!" And as his thoughts 権利d themselves, "Get the horses 支援する outa here and smoke the sons uh guns outa them 激しく揺するs!"

"You're damned 権利 it's a 罠（にかける）!" some one high above on the hillside yelled exultantly. "You ain't the only ones smart enough to 始める，決める 罠（にかける）s—" And the （衆議院の）議長's gun spoke a swift tattoo.

The raiders wheeled and fled 負かす／撃墜する the coulee to safety, and threw themselves off their horses in a hurry to get 支援する into the fight. While they milled about in the road, J.G.'s 発言する／表明する, trained to carry across a herd, にわか景気d 負かす／撃墜する to them from the dark of a piled 玉石 outcropping.

"Butch! Milt! We've got you going and coming! The coulee's 封鎖するd agin yuh—take my advice and 降伏する!"

"Go to hell!" Butch yelled 反抗. "You can't buffalo this bunch—we've been dogged off the 範囲 long as we're goin' to be. Come out into the open and fight, if yuh ain't too yella!"

"降伏する!" roared J.G. "I give yuh fair warnin'. . . ."

Butch 悪口を言う／悪態d him savagely, speaking 早い words to his men in between. A burst of 砲火 from the bank of the creek where some had already taken 避難, ducking 負かす／撃墜する into the 少しのd and 小衝突 while Big Butch made his war talk, answered the 飛行機で行くing U boss.

J.G.'s men, （武器などの）隠匿場所d さらに先に 負かす／撃墜する 近づく the coulee mouth, の近くにd up on the 無法者s, keeping to the 激しく揺するs and 狙撃 負かす／撃墜する at the gun flashes along the creek bank. Butch's men 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at the yellow spurts の中で the 激しく揺するs. The horses, wiser than their riders, 殺到d across the creek and followed the meadow 盗品故買者 pellmell up the coulee toward the corrals and 静かな.

Then the 戦略 of Jim Whitmore brought a new element into the fight. Suddenly the two old haystacks just over the 盗品故買者 in the meadow 炎上d up with a にわか雨 of 誘発するs. The road was bathed in orange glow. Against the brilliant light of the 燃やすing stacks the 無法者s lay plainly 明らかにする／漏らすd to those above them.

"We got you, Butch! For the third and last time, 降伏する!" J.G.'s stentorian 発言する／表明する floated 負かす／撃墜する the hill.

And, "I'll see yuh in hell first!" Big Butch shouted and took careful 目的（とする） toward the 発言する／表明する. "Git 'em, boys! That 解雇する／砲火／射撃 shows them up same as it does us!"

With a discordant chorus of yells, the 無法者s left their flimsy 避難所—which now was no 避難所 at all—and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d the hill. Some sprawled headlong. Some kept going and 伸び（る）d the 避難所 of the scattered 玉石s just above the road. And the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 played no favorites but starkly 明らかにする／漏らすd the hiding places of thieves and honest men alike. But at least it 軍隊d the 戦う／戦い to a 限定された 結論, which perhaps was what J.G. had in mind when he ordered those stacks 解雇する／砲火／射撃d by men 駅／配置するd behind them for that 目的.

Surrounded, their superior strength 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する with ruthless 決意 by men fighting for their homes 同様に as their lives, still the 無法者s fought like cornered wolves. And they took their （死傷者）数 and laid men groaning の中で the 激しく揺するs, and some took lead to themselves and fell silent. But more of the 無法者s dropped their hot ライフル銃／探して盗むs and crumpled 負かす／撃墜する within their 避難所s.

Milt Cummings was one of these. When the 戦う／戦い was over, and the chastened 無法者s stood grotesquely invoking the 静かな 星／主役にするs, the 飛行機で行くing U boys （機の）カム upon Milt lying on his 支援する behind a 激しく揺する, the dulled glow of the 燃やすd-out stacks 向こうずねing on his green-gray 注目する，もくろむs. Big Butch 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd over a 弾丸 負傷させる in his middle, sweating with the 苦痛 of it and savage as a 発射 grizzly. Of the 残り／休憩（する） remaining alive, some were sullen, others whined for leniency or made excuses, placing the 非難する on Big Butch, who had led them into it, they said. In short, the 生存者s behaved as their natures impelled them to do. They 推定する／予想するd a lynching party to follow the fight. It was what would have happened had they been the 勝利者s.

"It's Fort Benton and a 裁判官 an' 陪審／陪審員団 for you fellers," J.G. grimly 保証するd them. "We're 法律-abidin' men and we don't kill, except when killin's 軍隊d upon us. Rustle ropes, boys, and tie 'em up so's they'll stay tied. Come daylight, we'll 運ぶ／漁獲高 'em in and turn 'em over. Dead or alive, the 郡保安官's goin' to have a chance to look 'em over. Daw-gone 'em, they've got 記録，記録的な／記録するs a mile long, an' I'll bet money on it."

Heartsick at the senseless 虐殺（する） they had brought upon themselves—and upon honest men—半導体素子 turned away and started for the house. Maybe they had it coming to them; of course they had. No need to waste pity on men born to be hanged or 発射 for the evil they did. But Ted Culver didn't have it coming, and he lay dead 支援する there, waiting for a wagon to come 負かす／撃墜する and 運ぶ／漁獲高 him up to the ranch. And that old trapper with an 無法者 弾丸 in his brain—he didn't have it coming, nor the nester whose woman was a 未亡人 and didn't know it yet. It was like a war. It was war; the senseless, cruel war of greed against honest labor. Necessary, maybe—but he hated it and everything 付随するing to it.

He'd pull out and go where there wasn't so much of this damned fighting and 殺人，大当り. There must be some place . . .

A sound beside the big 玉石 停止（させる）d him in his 跡をつけるs. Another one 傷つける—only it didn't sound just like that, either. It sounded . . .

"Polly! Good Lord, girl, what are you doing out here? Are you 傷つける? If you're 傷つける—Say, if they've 傷つける you, I'll go 支援する 負かす／撃墜する there and—" He had her in his 武器, 持つ／拘留するing her の近くに, 説 crazy, tender things in a broken 発言する／表明する, half whispering, his 冷淡な, hard cheek against her soft one with the 涙／ほころびs running 負かす／撃墜する.

"Polly girl, don't cry! Don't you know I—it kills me to hear you cry like that?"

Two men passed them at a trot and 半導体素子 was silent until their footsteps receded up the road. His 手渡す caressed her cheek, her hair, stilling her sobs with the very tenderness of his touch. When they were やめる alone again, he leaned and 始める，決める his lips against her mouth. And he 設立する it very 甘い and 慰安ing, sending warm waves of strength and courage to his heart, his brain, making him feel as though he could fight Big Butch and all his ギャング（団） alone, if only it would make little Polly Taylor smile again.

"It's—so horrible," she said brokenly, at last. "They said some of the cowboys were k-killed—and I thought—maybe it was you!"

"Ted Culver," he told her gently. "Through the heart—he never knew what 攻撃する，衝突する him. And they paid—half of them are 負かす／撃墜する and the 残り／休憩（する） are 囚人s. Milt Cummings got it—there sure has been a clean-up. It'll be a different country after this. And it was you, Polly . . ."

Lovers have much to say that might sound silly if it were printed in 冷淡な type. Those two ran true to form, talking of themselves and what they really had meant when they quarreled, and what each thought the other had meant, and why. When they walked on up to the house, 半導体素子's arm was around her—that much may go on 記録，記録的な／記録する.

At the doorstep Polly laughed to herself—so soon does love forget its 悲劇s!—and was not permitted to take one step さらに先に until she told what it was that seemed so funny. At first she wouldn't tell, but 半導体素子 has the 指名する of 存在 a 執拗な young man. So finally she said she was laughing at the sudden change in the 天候. And she left 半導体素子 to 人物／姿／数字 that out for himself.

THE END

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